The Bowling Green State University men’s soccer team has been picked to finish first in the Mid-American Conference race in the 2022 season.

The nationally ranked Falcons return 17 letterwinners, including nine starters, from last season’s club.

BGSU will begin the 2022 campaign ranked 25th in the nation in the College Soccer News poll and tied for 25th in the United Soccer Coaches poll.

Head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons finished the fall 2021 season with an overall record of 11-6-3, and BGSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships.

BG picked up a 1-0 victory at Louisville in the first round of the national tourney, marking the fifth NCAA Tournament victory in program history, and the first since 1997. The Falcons qualified for the NCAA Championships twice in the 2021 calendar year.

BG has a record of 36-20-7 over the last 63 matches, dating to late in the 2018 season. A total of 13 of the 20 setbacks in that time have come by a single goal.

The 2022 regular-season schedule begins this weekend with a pair of matches in Chicago, as the Falcons take on DePaul on Friday (Aug. 26) and Loyola University Chicago Sunday (Aug. 28).

The preseason poll, the result of voting by the conference’s head coaches, was released by the league office on Tuesday morning

Just one point separated the first- through third-place teams in the poll, as the Falcons received 19 points while Akron and Northern Illinois garnered 18 points apiece.

Western Michigan earned 14 points in the poll, while first-year MAC affiliate Chicago State received six points.

Akron was the choice of two coaches to win the regular-season crown, with BGSU, NIU and WMU receiving one vote each.

The MAC Tournament voting went the exact same way, as the Zips received two votes to capture the league tourney crown, with the Falcons, Huskies and Broncos each getting one vote.