Bruins and Bears Clash

Belmont (10-3-1, 4-1-0) at Mercer (6-6-1, 2-1-1) | Saturday, Oct. 23 | 1:00 p.m. CT
Macon, Georgia | Betts Stadium
Live Stats | Belmont Match Notes

MACON, Ga. – Looking to extend its program record six-match winning streak, the Belmont University men's soccer team travels to Macon, Georgia, to close out Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at Mercer University. Kickoff of the league road affair is set for 1 p.m. CT from Betts Stadium.

The first of two road matchups to finish the Bruins' regular season will not be streamed online. However, live in-game statistics will be available via MercerBears.com.

What's Bruin

• Coming off a week-long break from match play, Belmont is the reigning national team of the week following its historic weekend last Saturday. Improving to 10-3-1 on the season and moving into first place in the SoCon with a 4-1-0 record, the Bruins upended 16th-ranked UNC Greensboro 2-1 at E.S. Rose Park in the Music City.
• The victory represented the highest-ranked opponent Belmont had ever defeated at home and tied for the highest-ranked adversary the Bruins had ever beat in program history – a 2-1 overtime win at then 16th-ranked Furman University on Nov. 2, 2007.
• Earning their first triumph over Spartans and extending their program record home match win streak to 10, the Bruins were named National Team of the Week by TopDrawerSoccer.com.
• Belmont has gone 10-1-1 over its last 12 outings and is an unblemished 5-0 in October.
• Scoring 14 goals across their previous five matches, the Bruins have had six different players find the back of the net with sophomore midfielder AJ Chastonay (4), sophomore forward Esteban Leiva (1), senior forward Liam O'Brien (5), sophomore midfielder Michael Saunders (1), senior midfielder/defender Esteban Lestido (1) and senior defender Case Cox (2) all notching at least a goal this month.
• Reaching 10 wins in a single season for just the second time in school history, Belmont owns the most match victories since going 11-8-2 in 2008.
• A triumph Saturday at Mercer would secure the Bruins' first conference championship in program history.
• With four league wins, Belmont is just one victory shy of reaching five conference wins in a single season since 2004 when the Bruins went 5-3-1 in the ASUN Conference (formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference). It would mark just the third season Belmont has reached five victories in league play, going a program-best 6-3-0 in the ASUN in 2003 to tie for second place in the final conference standings.  
• Last Saturday's top-20 win over UNC Greensboro completed the Bruins' regular season home slate with a perfect 9-0 record at Rose Park this fall. Belmont has outscored its opponents 15-3 at home this season and has won 12 of its last 14 matches at Rose Park. In fact, the Bruins are an impressive 18-7-3 at home since the start of the 2018 season.
• Defeating visiting Wofford 1-0 two weeks ago on Oct. 9, Belmont set the school record for shutouts in a single season with seven this fall. The shutout was the Bruins' fourth in a row, also setting the program record for consecutive shutouts.
• Playing superb defense all season, Belmont once again had a phenomenal defensive effort against the 16th-ranked Spartans last Saturday. After conceding just their third goal of the year at Rose Park, the Bruins limited one of the most elite offenses in the nation to a single shot on goal in the second half.
• Belmont is sixth nationally in save percentage (.841), while 12th in the country in goals against average (.695) and 16th in shutout percentage (.500). Nobody else in the seven-team SoCon has given up fewer goals (10) than the Bruins this season.
• Scoring the game winner in both of Belmont's 2-1 victories last week, Chastonay was tabbed SoCon Offensive Player of the Week after being named TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week. For his efforts, he was also selected to College Soccer News' Men's National Team of the Week.  
• For the second time this season the Bruins swept the league's weekly superlatives as Cox claimed SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors Tuesday afternoon as well. It marked the second-straight week a Belmont player had been named the conference's defensive player of the week after senior goalkeeper Drew Romig earned his second defensive player of the week plaudit on Oct. 12.
• With the score even at a goal apiece in the Bruins' non-conference bout with the University of Evansville last Tuesday night, Chastonay sent a header into the goal in the 86th minute. He bested that performance with the game winner in the 81st minute against national-ranked UNC Greensboro, finding the back of the net with his right foot off a feed inside the box from Cox. Chastonay owns the second-most goals on the season with six.
• Before delivering the game-winning assist to Chastonay last Saturday, Cox scored his second career goal against the Purple Aces last Tuesday night. Delivering a strike in the 42nd minute with his left foot off a set piece from senior forward Dagnoni, Cox put Belmont up 1-0 on Evansville heading into halftime. He made the assist on Chastonay's game winner Saturday as he was falling to the turf, sweeping the ball in front with his left leg.
• Romig, the reigning SoCon Defensive Player of the Month (September), is having quite the season in his final collegiate campaign. He is only one shutout away from setting the program's single-season record after tying for the most shutouts in a season with his sixth clean sheet of the fall in the 1-0 win over Wofford. The Midlothian, Virginia, native is on pace to shatter both the single-season and career school record for goals against average with an outstanding 0.71 goals against average this fall and a 0.82 GAA in 23 matches over his two-year Bruin career. The goalie ranks among national leaders in several statistical categories, including ranking seventh nationally in save percentage (.839), 12th in shutouts and 13th in GAA.
• With a team-best eight assists this season and 23 for his career, Dagnoni is only one assist shy of setting the program's single-season assist record. He needs just two more assists to tie Nico Olsak (2010-13) for the most assists ever by a Belmont player. Combined with a trio of goals, the Milan, Italy, striker owns 14 points on the season and 53 for his four-year career. Third among Bruins all-time in terms of points, Dagnoni needs only one more point to move into a tie for second place with Fernando Castellanos (2002-03). Dagnoni is also tied with Dan Meacock (2008-11) for the fourth-most goals in program history with 15 for his career.
• Scoring the equalizer in the 53rd minute against the 16th-ranked Spartans Saturday, O'Brien registered his team-leading seventh goal of the season and 13th of his career. The Freehold, New Jersey, native is in a three-way tie for the sixth-most goals in school history with Channing Twyner (2002-05) and Brian Holmes (1995-98) and has posted a pair of braces and a hat trick over the last two seasons.
• Saturday afternoon's tilt at Mercer will be the 19th all-time meeting between the two programs with the host Bears holding a 10-7-1 advantage in the series.
• Last April, Belmont snapped a five-match slide against Mercer with a 1-0 win over the Bears at Rose Park. Senior midfielder/defender Jack Shaw assisted on the lone goal in last season's matchup with Mercer, which served as the Bruins' regular season finale on senior day. The April 3 victory during the unique 2020-21 spring season clinched Belmont's No. 4 seed spot in the then four-team SoCon Championship and was the Bruins' first win versus the Bears since both teams joined the SoCon.
• Belmont is 2-6-1 against Mercer in Macon with its last road triumph over the Bears coming 2-1 on Oct. 1, 2005.
• From 2001-11, the Bruins faced Mercer on an annual basis as both were members of the ASUN.
• O'Brien scored his first career goal against the Bears as a true freshman on Oct. 16, 2018, in Nashville. His 21st-minute header giving Belmont a 1-0 lead before dropping a 3-1 decision.
• On Tuesday, Sept. 28, Belmont President Dr. Gregory Jones announced the Bruins would be joining the Missouri Valley Conference as its 11th member institution. Belmont will begin competition in the MVC in the fall of 2022. The MVC is comprised of Missouri State, Loyola University Chicago, SIUE, Drake, Bradley and Evansville for men's soccer. The Bruins will make up the seventh member in the league.
• It will be a return to the MVC for Belmont in men's soccer as the Bruins spent the 2000 season as affiliate league members.

About the Bears

• Mercer enters the weekend 6-6-1 overall on the year and 2-1-1 in SoCon play, sitting in third place in the league standings with seven points.
• On a three-match win streak, the Bears have most recently earned non-conference victories against Jacksonville University (1-0) Tuesday and at Georgia Southern (3-2) last Saturday. Mercer's last conference match was 5-0 rout of Virginia Military Institute on Oct. 9 in Macon.
• Beginning SoCon action with a 1-0 home win over Furman (Sept. 18), the Bears played East Tennessee State University to a scoreless draw on Sept. 25 before falling 3-0 at then receiving-votes UNC Greensboro (Oct. 2).
• Mercer has had one common non-conference opponent in Georgia State, who defeated the Bears on their home turf in a one-goal affair on Aug. 29. Belmont outlasted the visiting Panthers of Georgia State 2-1 in a double overtime thriller on Sept. 10.
• Both Mercer and the Bruins received 22 points in preseason voting to tie for third in the league's predicted order of finish. The Bears went 4-9-1 overall during the shortened spring season and finished fifth in the final SoCon standings with a 2-3-1 conference record.  
• Featuring two preseason All-SoCon selections in junior midfielder Dylan Gaither and junior defender/midfielder Ousman Jabang, Mercer has the services of sophomore midfielder Nick Wanzer, a returning SoCon All-Freshman Team member. Gaither, a first-team all-conference performer last season, leads the Bears and is tied for third in the league with eight goals this fall. He has also accounted for a pair of assists, while Jabang has dialed in four goals and owns a team-high five assists.

Up Next

Belmont wraps up the regular season Tuesday afternoon with a non-conference match at The Summit League's Eastern Illinois. Kickoff from Lakeside Field in Charleston, Illinois, is slated for 1 p.m. The Bruins will learn of their postseason fate following the conclusion of the SoCon regular season next weekend.

Follow Belmont men's soccer on social media - @BelmontMSoccer on Twitter and @belmontmsoccer on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

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