Men's Soccer Takes on Northern Illinois on the Road Sunday Afternoon

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Winners of five of its last six matches, the Belmont University men's soccer team returns to Missouri Valley Conference play Sunday afternoon at Northern Illinois. Kickoff from the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex in DeKalb, Illinois, is slated for 1 p.m.
 
The MVC road affair will be broadcast live on NIU All-Access, the Huskies' streaming platform, and live stats of the match can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The first of consecutive weekends on the road, the Bruins (8-4-2, 3-2-0 MVC) are going for their fourth-straight MVC win. Belmont defeated Bowling Green 2-1 last Saturday, collected a 3-1 win at Bradley on Oct. 6 and began October with a 2-1 home victory over Drake.
• Most recently, the Bruins closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 1-0 home win against Bellarmine University this past Tuesday night. The shutout was Belmont's third of the year as the Bruins finish 5-2-2 against non-conference opponents during the regular season.
• Senior midfielder Sam Rowan provided the game winner in the 77th minute against the visiting Knights Tuesday, scoring his second goal in Belmont's last three matches.
• Two Bruins earned their first career start versus Bellarmine, including senior defender Colton Milosch and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Patrick Schott. Milosch, who is an Illinois native and grew up less than 45 minutes from DeKalb and Northern Illinois in Oswego, played the entire 90 minutes, while Schott registered a clean sheet and came up with a trio of saves.
• With Belmont's triumph over the Knights Tuesday, senior midfielder AJ Chastonay improved to 3-0-1 against his father, Tim Chastonay, who is in his 26th season leading the Bellarmine program.
• The Bruins have scored the opening goal in 10 of their 14 matches this season.
• Belmont is fourth in the country in shot accuracy with 77 of its 148 shots on the season being placed on target (.520).
• Six different Bruins have scored in Belmont's last four matches – Sam Rowan (2), Ayden von Essen (1), Brock Kiper (1), Case Cox (1), Jansen Wilson (2) and Alex Clayton (1).
• Having a breakout season, Kiper leads the Bruins in goals (5) and is second on the team in points (11). His trio of game-winning goals are tied for 19th-most nationally.
• Graduate midfielder Jansen Wilson, who garnered weekly recognition from four different outlets last week following his first career brace in the win at Bradley on Oct. 6, leads Belmont with 13 points this fall. He is second on the team in both goals (4) and assists (5).
• Sophomore defender Dylan Steely has had plenty of offensive production this year, either scoring or assisting on a goal in his last four matches. With three goals and three assists on the season, he is third among all Bruins in points (9).
• Junior goalkeeper Grant Calvert ranks among the top 50 keepers in the nation in three key statistical categories. He is 16th nationally in saves (54), 30th in saves per match (4.15) and 46th in save percentage (.771).
• In the fourth NCAA RPI (Rating Percentage Index) of the season, which was released Monday morning, Belmont is one of four MVC teams in the top 100. The Bruins are up five more spots and are now ranked 74th, while Missouri State leads the Valley with the 20th-best RPI in the nation.
• Northern Illinois enters the weekend at No. 125 in the RPI.
• Eight of Belmont's first 12 matches of the year were away from the Music City.

 
Versus Northern Illinois

• Sunday afternoon will be the first-ever meeting between the Bruins and the Huskies on the soccer pitch.

 
About the Huskies

• Northern Illinois had a three-match unbeaten streak snapped at Western Michigan Wednesday afternoon. The Huskies (4-7-1) suffered a 3-1 setback against the Broncos and enter Sunday with a 1-3-1 record in the Valley.
• In its inaugural season as an affiliate member of the MVC, Northern Illinois got its first win in the conference last Saturday at home against Bradley (1-0). The Huskies also earned a result with a 1-1 draw at Drake on Oct. 7. Nationally-ranked Missouri State (3-0) at home and Evansville (2-0) on the road handed Northern Illinois its other two losses in the Valley.
• The Huskies were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team MVC during the preseason. Northern Illinois went 2-5-1 in the Mid-American Conference last year, finishing fourth out of five teams.
• The Huskies are just two seasons removed from reaching the 2021 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Second Round after capturing the 2021 MAC regular season and tournament titles. Northern Illinois is the sixth of seven programs on Belmont's schedule who made at least one of the last two NCAA Championships – Georgia State (Aug. 24), Memphis (Sept. 8), Missouri State (Sept. 22), Lipscomb (Oct. 10), Bowling Green (Oct. 14), Northern Illinois (Oct. 22) and Western Michigan (Oct. 27).
• Four different Huskies have scored three goals this season – junior forward Taisei Arima, sophomore midfielder Angel Rodriguez, senior midfielder Eddie Knight and senior midfielder Camilo Estrada. Arima leads Northern Illinois in points (9) with a team-best three assists, while freshman forward Sam Divis has also assisted on a trio of goals.

 
Up Next
The Bruins travel to Western Michigan next Friday for an afternoon matchup against the Broncos. Kickoff of the MVC contest in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is set for 2:30 p.m. CT from the WMU Soccer Complex.
 
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.