Men's Soccer Continues Three-Match Road Stretch at Drake Saturday

 
DES MOINES, Iowa – In a battle of regionally-ranked programs, the Belmont University men's soccer team takes on Drake University Saturday in a noon kickoff at the James Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
The Missouri Valley Conference road matchup will be broadcast on ESPN3 with live statistics of the contest available on BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• In the middle of a three-match road swing, the Bruins (5-2-4, 2-1-2 MVC) are going for their second Valley win away from Nashville and their first October victory of 2022.
• Fresh off a near week-long break from match action, Belmont suffered only its second loss of the season last Sunday afternoon at nationally-ranked Missouri State. The host Bears, who took the lead in the seven-team MVC with the win, scored in the 31st minute and the 89th minute for a 2-0 triumph.
• Both of the Bruins' losses this fall have come on the road at top-25 opponents with Belmont dropping a 3-0 decision at now second-ranked Kentucky on Sept. 2.
• Last Sunday's defeat snapped the Bruins' program record-tying seven-match unbeaten streak.
• Belmont stands in second place in the league with eight points, while the host Bulldogs (4-2-3, 2-1-0 MVC) are in third place with six points.
• For the third-straight week, the Bruins are ranked seventh in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll. Three MVC teams appear in the region's top 10 with Drake ranked ninth and 21st-ranked Missouri State sitting in third place.
• Four different Belmont players have collected a total of five MVC player of the week awards this season – graduate goalkeeper Nate 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).
• Senior midfielder Jansen Wilson has emerged as one of the top facilitators in the nation and ranks among the country's best. The Elizabethtown, Kentucky (Elizabethtown HS), native's six assists on the season are 19th-most nationally and he ranks 23rd in the nation in assists per match (0.55).
• A fifth-year senior, forward Liam O'Brien is just one Bruin victory away from becoming Belmont's all-time 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 Bruins 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.
• In the first NCAA RPI (Ratings Power Index) of the season released Monday, the Bruins are ranked 80th as one of four MVC teams who appear in the top 100. It marks the third consecutive season Belmont has achieved a top-80 RPI ranking after finishing the 2019 season with an RPI of 201 out of 206 Division I men's soccer programs. The Bruins closed out their 2021 campaign ranked 67th in the RPI and were 60th at the conclusion of the unique spring 2020-21 season.
• Nationally-ranked Missouri State leads the conference with an RPI of 26, while the University of Illinois Chicago is 94th and Belmont's weekend opponent Drake is 100th in the RPI rankings.
• Saturday's match will be just the third all-time meeting between the two schools on the soccer pitch. The Bulldogs have won both of the previous two matchups with Drake defeating the Bruins 1-0 in a neutral-site affair on Sept. 4, 2015, in Evansville, Indiana. In the two team's only other meeting, the Bulldogs earned a 7-1 win in Nashville during the 2000 season. The match was a league contest as Belmont was a one-year affiliate member of the MVC.
• The Bruins are making their first-ever trip to Des Moines.

About the Bulldogs

• Drake had a three-match win streak snapped at Bradley on Oct. 5 in a single-goal loss, before going on the road and tying Big Ten Conference member Wisconsin 1-1 this past Monday evening.
• The Bulldogs have earned MVC wins at UIC (1-0) on Sept. 17 and versus Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (1-0) on Oct. 1. In non-conference action, Drake defeated new Division I member Lindenwood (2-1) at home after earning a 1-0 road victory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to begin the season. After suffering a 1-0 setback at Oral Roberts, the Bulldogs picked up road draws at Omaha (2-2) and Milwaukee (1-1).
• Drake was picked seventh in the MVC preseason poll after tying for fifth in the then six-team league a season ago with a 3-7 conference record and nine league points. The Bulldogs went 6-9 overall last fall but ended the season on a five-match slide, losing six of their last seven matches of the year.
• Losing 2021 MVC Goalkeeper of the Year Jared Brown to graduation, Drake returned just four starters from last season's squad.
• With 17 newcomers, first-year head coach Pat Flinn's roster features sixth-year graduate student forward Bradan Allen who was an All-MVC Second Team performer last fall.
• Fellow graduate student forward AJ Franklin, a transfer from the Big East Conference's Marquette, has scored five of the Bulldogs' nine goals this season. Another Marquette transfer, graduate student forward Sam Thornton leads Drake with a pair of assists.

Up Next
Belmont wraps up its three-match road stretch next Wednesday with a non-conference tilt at ASUN Conference member Bellarmine. Kickoff from Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky, is slated for 5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET with the match broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Follow Belmont men's soccer on social media – @BelmontMSoccer on Twitter, @belmontmsoccer on Instagram and Belmont University Men's Soccer on Facebook – 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.