Game One
Date/Time: Thursday, Aug. 24 | 7:00 PM
Location: Bowling Green, Ohio | Cochrane Stadium
Teams: Cleveland State (0-0) vs. Bowling Green (0-0) 
Follow: Video | Stats
Rosters: Cleveland State | Bowling Green

Opening Whistle
The Vikings open their 2023 season on Thursday, August 24 at 7 p.m. when they travel to play Bowling Green at 7 p.m.

Season Openers
The Vikings are 1-2-1 all-time in openers under coach Ubiparipovic, with their lone victory coming last season at home against Canisius, 4-0.

About the Falcons
Bowling Green was picked to finish third in the Missouri Valley preseason poll. Senior Brendan Graves and junior Alberto Anaya were selected to the Preseason All-MVC team.

Last season, the Falcons went 6-5-5 overall and 4-2-2 in the MAC, and they return seven starters from that team.

Series History
Bowling Green leads the all-time series 19-16-1 and are winners of the last two contests. The last nine games have ended in shutouts, with the Vikings winning just two of them. These two teams last met in 2021, with the Falcons blanking the Vikings 3-0 on Krenzler Field. The Green and White last won in 2018 behind a 2-0 blanking at home.

A Look Back at Last Season
Cleveland State claimed their first-ever Horizon League Regular Season Championship after going 5-1-3 in league play. The Vikings went on to win their second Horizon League Tournament Championship and make their 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after beating IUPUI on Krenzler Field, 3-0 in the title contest.

For their efforts throughout the year, Sinisa Ubiparipovic was named the #HLMSOC Coach of the Year for the first time, Bojan Koevski was named the Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, while the Vikings had five All-League members with three on the first team; Bojan Kolevski, Pablo Kawecki, Jannis Schmidt, and two on the second team; Hector Gomez and Uros Jevtic.

Key Returners
The Vikings return three players who received Horizon League postseason honors; senior Bojan Kolevski, senior Pablo Kawecki, and sophomore Uros Jevtic.

Watch Lists
Bojan Kolevski was named to the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch list as a forward and was also named a Top 100 Player to Watch by Top Drawer Soccer.

Preseason Poll
Cleveland State was picked to finish first in the Horizon League preseason poll, as voted on by the league's ten coaches. The Vikings finished with nine of the ten first-place votes for 99 total points. IUPUI was selected second with the final first-place vote for 80 points, and Oakland was third with 71 points.

Up Next
Cleveland State remains on the road to face Canisius on Monday, August 28 at 7 p.m.