After beginning Mid-American Conference play with two losses, the BG men’s soccer team gets a break from conference play in a mid-week road match tonight at 7 p.m. in Columbus.

After a double-overtime tie last season, the Falcons will take on Ohio State with hopes of getting back to their game style.

“We just have to get back to playing soccer, making sure we’re playing BG soccer,” said sophomore Pat Flynn.

A tough test awaits the Falcons, however, as the Buckeyes come in ranked 27th in the NCAA rankings.

“We know we can play with any team in the country,” said redshirt sophomore Ryan Heuton. “We’re just going to keep trying to get better so we can start winning those big games.”

The Falcons have relied on solid defense in recent weeks, bringing seven shutouts on the season to the match Wednesday.

However, shutout just four times this season, the Ohio State attack will be sure to challenge the stout Falcon defense for 90 minutes.

“Not to say we’re where we want to be defensively, but I think we’re defending really well,” said head coach Eric Nichols. “If there is one thing that I want to continue, it’s our defending, and we hit on those aspects every day.”

While BG will look to continue its strong defensive play, the team understands it must find a way to break its offensive woes and put balls in the net.

Having scored just four goals in the past six games, the Falcons are scoring at a much slower pace than earlier in the season when the team put away 19 goals in their first six games.

This struggle has started to affect the Falcons’ strikers.

“As goal scorers, you have to try to forget about it but you think about it at times,” Flynn said. “We just have to focus a little more in front of the net and try to put the next one away.”

Despite the Falcons’ recent struggles, the team has been able to put together a historic season to date.

The 9-3-1 record through the first 13 games is the Falcons’ best start to a season since the 10-2-1 start during the 1995 season.

With nine wins already, they have accumulated the most wins in a season since the 2000 season. A win against Ohio State would give Bowling Green their first 10-win season in more than 15 years.

This historic run will not help the Falcons moving forward, however.

Instead, Bowling Green must focus on playing their defensive style while converting their goal opportunities, much the same way as they did during the season’s opening stretch.

The team is confident they can do this moving forward as they look to get back on track out of conference.

“If we keep them out of the net,” Heuton said, “we know our offense will eventually get the goals.”