The Bowling Green men’s soccer team began August with a 1-0 scrimmage victory against Marshall and now they will look to continue their success into the regular season for their home opener against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

In order to continue this success, the Falcons will look to build upon their seven game spring season with their newest additions.

“The spring is over, it is what it is,” senior defender Jon Kumher said. “It was a learning experience so we’re going to learn from that, but we got a whole different team now with a whole new season with a new beginning, so we’re excited.”

The Falcons additional talent was evident during their victory over Marshall, but they are cognizant of the issues they must still address on the field.

“We did some things right [against Marshall], we just have to finish more,” senior midfielder Danny Baraldi said. “We had a lot of opportunities to score and we only put one away, which is kind of disappointing.”

Despite the room for improvement, the Falcons have continued to grow over the summer.

Whether it be improved technique, better teamwork, or a better understanding of the game, the young Falcons have been impressive thus far.

“This group is improving pretty rapidly, but they have a lot of room for improvement,” head coach Eric Nichols said. “I’m really impressed with how quickly they’re picking things up, but there are still a number of areas that still need to

be fixed.”

In order for the Falcons to show well in the opener, they understand that their emotions must remain in check; neither too high nor low.

To ensure this happens, the players will look to come together as one and play as a family.

“The key for us is to stay united as a family,” Kumher said. “We have to be loud, we have to organize from the back and we just have to

want it.”

While the Falcons have grown drastically in a short period of time, their expectations across the Mid-American Conference remain mild.

The Falcons were picked to finish fifth of six in the MAC.

However, the team understands that this prediction comes with a reasonable rationale with the talent they graduated last year.

“No one else in the conference knows who we’ve brought in, but that’s a fair ranking,” Nichols said. “Now it’s up to us to either prove it right or wrong and that only happens on the field.”

The Friday night game will kickoff the 50 season of the men’s soccer team at BGSU as the Falcons look to earn their 400 victory in team history.