Men's Soccer Takes on SIUE in First MVC Road Match as Full League Members

 
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Closing out its two-match week on the road, the Belmont University men's soccer team heads to Edwardsville, Illinois, for a Saturday night affair at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The Bruins' first Missouri Valley Conference road match since becoming full league members kicks off at 7 p.m. from Ralph Korte Stadium.
 
The conference match will be broadcast on ESPN3 with live statistics of the contest available on BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• On a three-match win streak, Belmont (4-1-2, 1-0-0 MVC) seeks its second MVC victory in program history after opening league play with a 2-1 win over visiting Bradley last Saturday at E.S. Rose Park. The first MVC contest held in the Music City since Belmont joined the conference officially in July, the Bruins claimed the school's first MVC win as full league members.
• Belmont has won each of its last three matches by a 2-1 margin, including non-conference road triumphs at UNC Asheville two weeks ago and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Tuesday afternoon.
• Junior midfielder Michael Saunders registered his first career brace versus the host Jaguars and the Bruins played disciplined throughout the entire 90 minutes in Indianapolis. Senior midfielder Jansen Wilson served in a beautiful cross to Saunders just three minutes in and Saunders struck again within the first two minutes of the second half. Although IUPUI made it a single-goal match in the 64th minute, Belmont held its composure as the Bruins' back line held its ground and graduate goalkeeper Nate Logan made terrific plays in front of the net.
• Saunders' two goals Tuesday were his first scores of the season and the fourth and fifth goals of his career.
• Wilson enters the weekend with a team-leading four assists on the season. He ranks 42nd nationally in assists per match (0.57).
• Edwardsville is an outer city of St. Louis, Missouri. Senior midfielder Kyle Barks is a St. Louis native (De Smet Jesuit HS), while junior midfielder Sam Rowan hails from Wentzville, Missouri (Holt HS), which lies northwest of St. Louis.
• Both Rowan and sophomore keeper Grant Calvert transferred to Belmont from Saint. Louis University.
• Saturday will be the sixth all-time meeting between the Bruins and SIUE (3-3-1, 0-1-0 MVC) with the Cougars holding a slight 3-2 advantage in the series.
• Belmont is 0-3 in its previous three trips to Edwardsville, but the Bruins have not traveled to SIUE since Sept. 29, 2018, where they were handed 2-0 setback.
• Last season, Belmont improved to 2-0 versus the Cougars in Nashville with a 1-nil win (Sept. 6). Junior midfielder AJ Chastonay found the back of the net in the 43rd minute on Labor Day as the Bruins earned one of their program record nine shutouts of the season.
• First-year SIUE assistant coach Jordan Grant served as an assistant on head coach David Costa's staff the previous three seasons.

About the Cougars

• Led by fourth-year head coach Cale Wassermann, the Cougars opened their 2022 campaign with a 3-1 loss at Loyola Marymount University in California before playing Cal State Northridge to a 1-1 road draw.
• After going on a three-match win streak to start September with home victories over Lindenwood (2-0), Southern Indiana (5-1) and Western Illinois (1-0), SIUE is coming off back-to-back losses. Last Tuesday, Sept. 13, Saint Louis handed the Cougars a 4-1 loss in Edwardsville and last Saturday SIUE was defeated 2-0 at the University Evansville to begin MVC play.
• SIUE had last week off from match action.
• The Cougars tied for third in the MVC preseason coaches poll with 32 points after going 4-6-0 in league play last year. Finishing third in the MVC last season, SIUE went 6-10-2 overall and bowed out to sixth-seeded Bradley in the first round of the conference tournament.
• Sophomore midfielder Pau Palacin and sophomore defender Max Broughton were both named preseason All-MVC after they earned All-MVC Second Team honors last season. Palacin has scored five of the Cougar's 11 goals, while junior forward Jacob Bilyeu leads the team with a trio of assists.
• Saturday's match will serve as SIUE's annual homecoming game. The Cougars are 12-1 in their homecoming matches but dropped last year's matchup with Bradley in double overtime (4-3).

Up Next
Belmont will have a week off from competition before returning to Rose Park next weekend when the Bruins welcome the University of Illinois Chicago to the Music City on Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
 
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.