Men's Soccer Begins Postseason Play at UIC Sunday Afternoon

 
CHICAGO – Looking to contend in a third-straight conference championship title match, the Belmont University men's soccer team begins postseason play Sunday afternoon in the Windy City. The fourth-seeded Bruins (6-3-7, 2-2-4 MVC) take on fifth-seeded University of Illinois Chicago at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Championship at Flames Field.
 
The league tournament quarterfinal match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live statistics of the postseason contest available on BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Making its first MVC Championship appearance in its first season as full conference members, Belmont finished league play with 10 points. Although the Bruins tied the Flames (5-8-2, 3-4-1 MVC) in the conference standings, UIC earned the higher seed and the right to host via tiebreaking procedures which were based on goal differential against MVC opponents.
• Belmont has won each of its last three first round matches in conference tournaments and reached the championship match each of the last two years.
• Last season, the Bruins shut out fifth-seeded East Tennessee State University 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Championship in Greenville, North Carolina, before upsetting top-seeded and nationally-ranked UNC Greensboro 2-1 in the semifinals of the league tournament. During the unique 2020-21 spring season amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, Belmont upended top-seeded and 25th-ranked Furman 3-1 in the SoCon Championship semifinals.
• The Bruins have earned five road results this season, including a trio of wins. Belmont has earned a result in each of its last two road matches.
• Closing out the regular season with their fourth scoreless draw this fall, the Bruins posted their third consecutive shutout Wednesday night at Evansville. It was the second scoreless affair Belmont played with the host Purple Aces this season after the two teams battled to a 0-0 tie in Nashville on Oct. 5.
• The Bruins have earned seven shutouts this year and 16 over two seasons, 11 of which have come at E.S. Rose Park in the Music City.
• Of Belmont's seven shutouts this season, two have been scoreless draws against top-25 opponents. The Bruins played No. 17 Lipscomb to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 6 in the 25th Battle of the Boulevard and knotted No. 18 Missouri State in a scoreless affair on Oct. 23.
• On a four-match unbeaten streak, Belmont has not allowed a goal since a 1-1 draw at Bellarmine on Oct. 19.
• After two stellar defensive performances the past two Wednesdays, senior midfielder Kyle Barks was tabbed MVC Defensive Player of the Week Thursday afternoon. The fifth Bruin to earn MVC player of the week honors this season, Barks helped lead Belmont to back-to-back shutouts to close out the regular season. A key cog in the Bruins' midfield, Barks controlled the center and did not allow visiting Eastern Illinois to get off a single shot on target two Wednesdays ago. In fact, EIU was limited to just three shots with zero clean looks at goal. In the 57th minute, Barks registered his first career assist when he shuffled the ball over to senior forward Liam O'Brien near the top of the 18-yard box. Belmont went on to win the match 2-0, extending its home unbeaten streak to 18. This past Wednesday, Barks recorded a shot at Evansville as the Bruins held the host Purple Aces to a lone shot on goal.
• With his second-half go-ahead goal versus EIU on Wednesday, Oct. 26, O'Brien moved into a tie with Fernando Castellanos (2002-03) for the second-most ever by a Belmont player (22). He is only nine goals shy of the most ever by a Bruin (31) – Brandon Tarr (2009-12) – and his 48 career points rank him fourth on Belmont's all-time scoring list.
• O'Brien became the Bruins' winningest player in program history on Oct. 26 with Belmont's 2-0 triumph over the visiting Panthers. He has been involved in 35 match wins over his five-year Bruin career. Graduate midfielder JP Armbruster and senior midfielders Kyle Barks and Corey Lavinder, who began their Belmont careers in 2019, aren't too far behind and have been a part of 31 match wins.
• Following his efforts against EIU two Wednesday nights ago, O'Brien was named Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week Tuesday afternoon. He became the third Bruin to garner the weekly state accolade this season, joining junior defender Case Cox (Oct. 4) and junior midfielder Michael Saunders (Sept. 27).
• In this week's United Soccer Coaches West Region poll, Belmont moved up to a season-high fifth place. The Bruins are one of four MVC teams ranked in the region's top 10 with Missouri State leading the way in third place, followed by Belmont, Drake sixth and Evansville 10th.
• In the fourth week of the season's NCAA RPI (Ratings Power Index), the Bruins are ranked 89th as the third-highest rated MVC team. The league has four teams in the top 100 of the RPI with Missouri State at No. 26 and Drake just ahead of Belmont at No. 88. UIC is ranked 98th in the RPI and Evansville sits just right outside the top 100 at 101.
• Five different Bruins have collected a total of six MVC player of the week accolades this season – Nate Logan (defensive, Aug. 30 and Sept. 27), John Bannec (defensive, Sept. 13), Michael Saunders (offensive, Sept. 27), Case Cox (offensive, Oct. 4) and Kyle Barks (defensive, Nov. 3).
• Graduate goalkeeper Nate Logan ranks among national leaders in shutouts (6), goals against average (1.00), goalie minutes played (1,350), save percentage (.754) and saves (46), while senior midfielder Jansen Wilson is among the nation's best as a facilitator with a team-leading six assists on the season.
• Sunday afternoon will be the seventh all-time meeting between the two programs with the host Flames holding a 5-0-1 advantage in the series.
• On Oct. 1 in Nashville, the two teams played to a 3-3 draw in an up-and-down emotional affair. Cox became the first Belmont player to register a hat trick at Rose Park since 2019 and scored the game-tying goal in the 89th minute. The Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the match following two Cox headers, but UIC stormed back and scored three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 advantage before Cox's equalizer with under two minutes remaining. Two of the Flames' three goals came within five minutes of each other after 50 minutes of play. Three different UIC players scored, including Aaron Nguyen (41'), Josh Torres (54') and Pau Mateo (59').
• Belmont will be making its first trip to Chicago since Oct. 29, 2016, and is 0-2 versus the Flames on the road. UIC won 2-0 in the Bruins' last visit.

About the Flames

• After losing three straight in the middle of October, the Flames have won two of their last three matches. UIC scored six goals in the final 30 minutes of a 6-2 blowout at Bradley on Oct. 23 and blanked Evansville 2-0 on senior night the following Saturday (Oct. 29).
• On Wednesday night the Flames dropped a 3-1 decision at Drake, who is seeded second in the MVC Championship.
• UIC is one of the best in the nation at creating chances, ranking 12th nationally in shots per match (15.8), 24th in corner kicks per outing (6.3) and 55th in shots on target per contest (5.8).
• The Flames are hosting a conference tournament match for the fourth consecutive season and sixth time in the last eight years.
• UIC is 3-1-1 at home in the postseason since 2017.
• Eight-time NCAA Championship qualifiers, the Flames won either a regular season or conference tournament championship for five consecutive seasons in the Horizon League (2015-19) with back-to-back 12-win campaigns in 2018 and 2019. UIC compiled 35 match victories in three seasons between 2017-19.
• Belmont was also a member of the Horizon League for four seasons from 2014-17 where the Bruins faced the Flames four times in league play.
• Led by 13th-year head coach Sean Phillips, UIC features preseason All-MVC selections Pau Mateo (defender) and Andres Vasquez (goalkeeper).
• Sophomore forward Josh Torres, a Horizon League All-Freshman Team selection a year ago, has accounted for eight of the Flames' 25 goals this fall. Redshirt senior midfielder Christian Crespo leads the team in assists with four.

Up Next
The winner of Sunday's MVC Championship quarterfinal match will advance to the semifinals, which will be played Thursday at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium in Springfield, Missouri. Hosted by top-seeded and 21st-ranked Missouri State, the lowest remaining seed in the MVC Championship will face the Bears at 6 p.m. Missouri State received a first-round bye in the conference tournament with the next highest remaining seed taking on the other semifinal team at 3 p.m.
 
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