Morristown Times

Closing out the home portion of its regular season, the Belmont University men's soccer team hosts Eastern Illinois Wednesday evening at E.S. Rose Park in non-conference action. Kickoff from the Music City is slated for 6:30 p.m.

 

The regular season home finale will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Reily Chestnut on the call and Hanley Riggs reporting from the touchline. Live statistics of the midweek match will be available on BelmontBruins.com.

 

What's Bruin

• The Bruins (5-3-6) look to extend their four-match unbeaten streak in non-conference play while seeking their first victory of October.
• Earning three consecutive draws at home, Belmont has tied in four of its last six matches.
• On Sunday afternoon, the Bruins earned their second scoreless draw against a top-25 opponent this season. Becoming the first Missouri Valley Conference program to shut out 18th-ranked Missouri State since April 8, 2021, Belmont snapped the Bears' 15-match win streak in league play. The Bruins also snapped Missouri State's seven-match road win streak, which was tied for the longest active streak in all of NCAA men's soccer. The draw was the Bears' first tie in MVC action in nearly four years.
• With 14 shutouts in two seasons, including 10 at home, Belmont has shut out two of the top offenses in the nation this year. On Sept. 6, the Bruins shut out now 10th-ranked Lipscomb in a scoreless draw in the 25th Battle of the Boulevard.
• Redshirt freshman defender Dylan Steely, freshman defender Riley Clothier and graduate goalkeeper Nate Logan, along with Belmont's entire back line, were absolutely sensational against Missouri State Sunday. Steely and Clothier seemingly won every header and made their presence felt on every Bear attack, limiting the visitors to only one shot on target in the second half. Logan made a career-high seven saves in front of the net while earning his fifth shutout of the season.
• Sunday afternoon's draw was the Bruins' third tie against a nationally-ranked foe in program history.
• In this week's United Soccer Coaches West Region poll, Belmont moved back up to seventh place. The Bruins are one of four MVC teams ranked in the region's top 10 with Missouri State leading the way in second place, followed by Evansville eighth and Drake ninth.
• In the third week of the season's NCAA RPI (Ratings Power Index), Belmont is ranked 84th as the second-highest rated MVC team. The league has three teams in the top 100 of the RPI with the Bears at No. 26 and Evansville ranked 92nd. Drake sits just outside the top 100 with an RPI of 106.
• The Bruins are riding a 17-match home unbeaten streak that dates back to March 30, 2021 and have outscored their opponents 24-8 during that span. Belmont has gotten a result in 19 of its last 21 matches at Rose Park and is 20-7-8 at home since the start of the 2018 season.
• Four different Bruins have collected a total of five MVC player of the week awards this season – Logan (defensive, Aug. 30 and Sept. 27), senior defender John Bannec (defensive, Sept. 13), junior midfielder Michael Saunders (offensive, Sept. 27) and most recently junior defender Case Cox (offensive, Oct. 4).
• Logan ranks among national leaders in shutouts (5), goals against average (1.07), saves (45) and save percentage (.750), while senior midfielder Jansen Wilson is among the nation's best as a facilitator with a team-leading six assists on the season.
• With his second-half equalizing goal at Bellarmine last Wednesday night, senior forward Liam O'Brien moved to within a single goal of second-place program leader Fernando Castellanos for career goals scored. With 21 goals, he is 10 goals shy of the most ever by a Belmont player – Brandon Tarr (2009-12) – and owns 46 career points, the sixth-most in program history. O'Brien needs only two more points to move up the Bruins' all-time scoring list.
• Additionally, O'Brien is just one Belmont victory away from becoming the Bruins' winningest player. He has been involved in 34 match wins over five seasons and is tied with recent program graduates Ares Marlonsson (2017-21) and Esteban Lestido (2017-21) for the most triumphs while donning the Belmont jersey. Graduate midfielder JP Armbruster and senior midfielders Kyle Barks and Corey Lavinder, who began their Belmont careers in 2019, aren't too far behind with 30 match wins.
• Wednesday will be the 11th all-time meeting between the Bruins and EIU with the series deadlocked at 5-5-0. The Panthers have gone 3-2 versus Belmont in Nashville, but EIU has visited the Bruins just once since 2011.
• Belmont has won each of the last two home matchups in the series with a 3-2 win over the Panthers in EIU's most recent trip to the Music City on Sept. 25, 2018. The Bruins also defeated the visiting Panthers 3-0 on Nov. 1, 2011.
• Winning five of the last six meetings between the two squads, Belmont defeated EIU 2-0 exactly one year ago in Charleston, Illinois. O'Brien found the back of the net in the 25th minute and forward Niccolo Dagnoni scored an unassisted goal in the 42nd minute. Both teams put eight shots on goal and former keeper Drew Romig came up with eight saves.

About the Panthers

• The Panthers enter Wednesday with just one win on the season and a trio of ties, sitting at 1-9-3 overall and 0-5-1 in the Summit League. EIU's lone victory came on Sept. 4 at Purdue University Fort Wayne (1-0) and the Panthers have earned draws at Xavier (Aug. 28), versus Western Illinois (Oct. 8) and at Bradley (Oct. 11).
• EIU has lost both of its last two outings, dropping a 6-1 decision at Oral Roberts two Saturdays ago before falling 1-0 at home to the University of Missouri-Kansas City this past Saturday.
• In last place in the nine-team Summit League, the Panthers have allowed 32 goals this fall while scoring 10.
• In addition to Purdue Fort Wayne and Bradley, EIU has faced Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Southern Indiana as common opponents with the Bruins. Host IUPUI defeated the Panthers 5-1 on Sept. 2 and EIU was edged 3-2 at home by the Screaming Eagles on Oct. 1. Belmont defeated both the Braves (2-1) and Southern Indiana (2-0) at home, while claiming a 2-1 win on the road against the Jaguars and tying the Mastodons 1-1 at Rose Park.
• Junior forward Sam Eccles, a transfer from Hofstra University, has scored half of the Panthers' goals with five while senior forward Allen Maxwell owns a team-best two assists.

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