Bruins Begin Regular Season with Southern Indiana Thursday

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following a trio of home exhibition matches, the Belmont University men's soccer team kicks off its 2022 fall campaign Thursday evening at E.S. Rose Park against Southern Indiana. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
 
The season opener will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Reily Chestnut providing play-by-play of the home match. Live stats of the contest can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins closed out the preseason this past weekend with a four-goal outing versus local NCAA Division II Trevecca Nazarene. Sophomore defender Dylan Steely, junior Lake Erie College transfer forward Ayden von Essen, senior defender John Bannec and freshman midfielder Simeon Betapudi all scored this past Saturday evening against the visiting Trojans.
• Belmont also hosted the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Memphis in exhibitions over the last two weeks.
• Under head coach David Costa, the Bruins are 1-1-1 in season openers. Belmont fell in a 3-1 road affair at then 12th-ranked Missouri State in last season's opener.
• Entering their first year in the Missouri Valley Conference as full league members, the Bruins were picked to finish second in the seven-team conference. Both senior forward Liam O'Brien and junior attacking midfielder AJ Chastonay were named to the preseason All-MVC Team after garnering All-Southern Conference honors last season.
• Belmont spent the last four seasons in the SoCon where the Bruins reached the last two SoCon Championship title matches. In 2000, Belmont was an affiliate member of the MVC.
• Last year the Bruins claimed a program record 13 victories and finished the season 13-5-1, going 7-2-1 in non-conference matches.
• Under the guidance of coach Costa, Belmont has earned 25 match wins over the last three seasons.
• The Bruins enter Thursday on a 10-match home win streak dating back to April 2021. Belmont outscored its opponents 15-3 at Rose Park last season and shut out six of its nine adversaries, going a perfect 9-0 at home. It marked the first undefeated home season for the Bruins.
• Belmont has won 12 of its last 14 home matches and is 18-7-3 at Rose Park since the start of the 2018 season.

About the Screaming Eagles

• Southern Indiana is returning to Division I after the Screaming Eagles men's soccer program spent three seasons at the level from 1992-94.
• Entering its first season in the Summit League, Southern Indiana was selected ninth in the nine-team conference's preseason predicted order of finish.
• The Screaming Eagles joined the Ohio Valley Conference in all sports but men's soccer and newly added men's and women's swimming & diving over the summer. The OVC served as the Bruins' home for all sports except men's soccer from 2012-22.
• Southern Indiana went 5-9-2 overall last fall and posted a 4-8-2 record in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
• Led by 14th-year head coach Mat Santoro, the Screaming Eagles feature nine newcomers, including seven freshmen and a pair of transfers.

Up Next
Belmont welcomes Purdue University Fort Wayne to the Music City Sunday for a 2 p.m. matchup. Next Friday, Sept. 2, the Bruins travel to nationally-ranked Kentucky.
 
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.