The Valley title race is at the midpoint and the standings see a three-way tie for first at 10 points entering the back half of the schedule. Missouri State (3-0-1, 10 pts), Western Michigan (3-0-1, 10 pts) and UIC (3-1-1, 10 pts) all sit at the top of the table entering this week's busy slate. Belmont is also within striking distance of the top, sitting one point back at 3-2-0 (9pts). Bowling Green (2-2-0, 6 pts) sits four points back entering the week, while Evansville (1-3-1, 4 pts), Drake (1-3-1, 4 pts) and Northern Illinois (1-2-1, 4 pts) have four points. The top six teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the MVC Tournament.
Missouri State enters the week riding a 28-match Valley unbeaten streak dating back to the 2020-21 season. The Bears’ last loss to a Valley team was vs. Loyola Chicago on April 8, 2021. In fact, since the 2019 season, Missouri State is 43-1-4 in matches vs. Valley teams (includes MVC tournaments), which is the best conference run nationally over that time period.
Upcoming Valley Schedule
This week’s conference slate includes four matches on Wednesday and four more matches on Sunday as the league schedule hits the back stretch.
MVC STATS
NCAA Leaders
Valley goalkeepers have been elite this season in save percentage. The Valley has five teams ranking among the top 40 nationally. Missouri State paces The Valley teams, ranking 11th nationally with a save percentage of .826.
NCAA RPI UPDATE
According to the latest RPI Update from the NCAA, the MVC has four teams sitting in the Top 100 of the RPI. Missouri State sits 20th in the RPI with UIC also in good position at 31. Western Michigan sits 49th and Belmont at 74th. The MVC ranks 11th as a conference.
The last time the MVC finished the season with four teams sitting in the Top 100 of the RPI was 2012 (Bradley, Creighton, Evansville, SIUE).
Polling
Missouri State continues to appear in all three national polls this week. The Bears sit No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 (Oct. 17), No. 13 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll and No. 16 in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25.
Western Michigan sits No. 26 in this week’s College Soccer News Top 30.
MVC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Belmont Bruins
- Belmont has won four of its last five. Four different Bruins scored in Belmont’s two matches last week – Case Cox (2), Sam Rowan (2), Brock Kiper (5), Ayden von Essen (1).
- The Bruins have scored the opening goal in nine of their 13 matches this season. The Bruins have scored multiple goals in five consecutive matches.
- Belmont has gotten a result in 26 of its last 28 matches at home, outscoring its opponents 43-17 during that stretch.
BRADLEY Braves
- Bradley fell 1-0 to Northern Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 14, in DeKalb. Goalkeeper Drew Berry tallied eight saves in the loss.
- Bradley's gameplay in 2023 has seen notable changes. To this point, the Braves have seven games where they spent 66% of their time with the ball in the opposition's half of the field. The Braves are averaging nearly 30% of their possession during a game in the attacking 1/3 of the field.
Bowling green Falcons
- Junior midfielder Alberto Anaya’s goal at Belmont on Saturday night was his first of the season, but the ninth of his BGSU career. The junior leads all active Falcons in career goals and points (30).
- BGSU is 40-11-14 at home since the start of the 2015 season, and the Falcons are 34-9-14 at Cochrane Stadium since the beginning of 2016. That record includes a 5-0-1 mark this year, but BG’s last two regular-season home matches of the 2023 regular season are against two of the three teams currently tied at the top of the MVC in total points, UIC and Missouri State.
DRAKE Bulldogs
- The Bulldogs enjoyed a historic week in Des Moines as they played their first-ever game in the brand-new Mediacom Stadium. The new venue is the first on-campus, soccer-centric stadium in Drake University history.
- The Bulldogs christened their new home with a 2-0 win over St. Thomas in non-conference action behind a pair of goals from true freshman Jackson Kirsch. Drake’s win kept their home streak alive as the Bulldogs are still an undefeated 3-0-2 at home.
EVANSVILLE Purple aces
- Freshman midfielder David Hernandez scored his first collegiate goal for the Purple Aces on Saturday evening against UIC. Hernandez is one of four Evansville players to score their first collegiate goal in the 2023 season. Defender Nacho Diaz-Caneja, winger Auden Engen Vik and forward Jacopo Fedrizzi have all found the back of the net for the first time while in an Aces uniform.
- Evansville will have their toughest conference test this week at home in front of fans at Arad McCutchan Stadium. The Aces welcome the No. 16 Missouri State Bears to town on Wednesday afternoon before getting their bye week. UE is looking to avenge their 2022 Tournament Championship loss to Missouri State this week before regrouping for the final games of the Valley season.
UIC Flames
- The UIC men's soccer team returned home to Flames Field Saturday, as it played host to Evansville on a cool fall night in Chicago. The Flames opened the first half with a flurry of goals, tallying four in the first half to take control of the match.
- The Flames went on to earn a 5-1 victory, equaling their largest margin of victory this season.
- The four goals the Flames scored in the first half were the most in a single half since a six-goal onslaught against Bradley on Oct. 23, 2022 in a 6-2 win.
MISSOURI STATE Bears
- The No. 16-ranked Missouri State Bears (7-1-3, 3-0-1 MVC) secured a huge 2-1 win over the Omaha Mavericks (4-5-3, 1-1-1 Summit League). After being shut out for consecutive games for the first time since 2018, the Bears responded by going into a weekend off with their third multi-goal outing this season. Senior forward Jon Koka put the Bears on the board first with his second goal of the season in the 15th minute. After allowing the equalizer minutes before halftime, senior forward Jesus Barea scored in the 76th minute to earn the win.
- Omaha was the first team to match Missouri State in shot attempts as each team got 10 apiece. However, nine of the 10 shots for the Bears were on goal to bump Missouri State's season shot accuracy to .529, fourth in the nation.
- Missouri State returns to conference play as the season heads into the final stretch. The Bears will be on the road for the first time since Sept. 30 against Evansville (3-6-3, 1-2-1 MVC) at 6:00 p.m. Following that, Missouri State will host Western Michigan (9-1-3, 3-0-1 MCV) on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. for Alumni Weekend.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS Huskies
- With its victory over Bradley, NIU is now unbeaten in its last three games, dating back to a 1-0 win at Marquette on Oct. 2. The stretch marks the longest unbeaten run of the season for the Huskies and the longest since going four games unbeaten early in the 2022 season (Aug. 28-Sept. 8). NIU has allowed just one goal in the last three games.
- Taylor Davis’ game-winning goal against Bradley marked the third consecutive NIU goal that has been scored by a substitute. Along with Davis’ 45th minute tally against the Braves, Angel Rodriguez came off the bench to score both the 79th minute game-winner at Marquette (Oct. 2) and the game-tying goal in the 87th minute against Drake (Oct. 7).
Western michigan Broncos
- WMU extended its unbeaten streak to a new program best 12 games without a loss in the win over Drake.
- Dylan Sing's scoring record of consecutive games with a goal concluded in the win over Drake. Sing now holds the program record goal-scoring streak with eight straight games with a goal which started on Sunday, September 10, versus Dayton and concluded on Wednesday October 11 against Oakland.
- During his goal scoring streak, Sing averaged 1.25 goals per contest.