Men's Soccer Hosts UIC at Rose Park Sunday Afternoon

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Returning to Missouri Valley Conference play following its final non-conference match of the regular season Tuesday, the Belmont University men's soccer team welcomes the University of Illinois Chicago to E.S. Rose Park Sunday afternoon. Kickoff from the Music City is set for 1 p.m.
 
The home match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Spencer Boehme on the call. Live stats of the weekend contest can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
Admission is always free to Bruin home matches and one lucky fan in attendance Sunday will win a JBL portable speaker via an enter-to-win giveaway.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont (6-0-5, 1-0-1 MVC) is one of just 12 unbeaten teams in the nation.
• For the first time in program history, the Bruins are unbeaten through their first 11 matches of the season.
• Belmont's program-best 13-match unbeaten streak, which dates back to Oct. 25 of last year, is the third longest in the nation behind only Vermont (22) and the University of Portland (21).
• Through their first 11 matches, the Bruins have outscored their opponents 18-6 and have not conceded more than a single goal in any outing.
• On Tuesday, Belmont earned its fifth road shutout of the season with a scoreless draw at Atlantic Coast Conference member Louisville. The result was the Bruins' seventh on the road this year.
• Belmont overcame a 65th-minute red card as the Bruins were forced to play a man down for the closing 25 minutes of the match.
• Tuesday's result was Belmont's first against an ACC opponent since defeating Virginia Tech 2-1 on Oct. 27, 2015, in Blacksburg, Virginia.
• The Bruins earned their first result against the Cardinals after dropping their first eight matchups with Louisville. Earlier this season, the Cardinals defeated top-ranked Stanford 1-0 on Sept. 5.
• Graduate goalkeeper Grant Calvert picked up his fourth clean sheet of the season Tuesday at Louisville, coming up with four crucial second-half saves.
• Calvert ranks in the top 20 nationally in both save percentage (.842) and goals against average (.553).
• In Belmont's last match at Rose Park last Friday, the Bruins secured their first MVC win of the season with a 4-1 rout of Bowling Green. It was the most goals scored by Belmont since a 4-0 road win at Southern Indiana on Sept. 12, 2023.
• Eleven Bruins have found the back of the net this season – redshirt junior forward Brock Kiper (4), freshman forward Jaxon Stokes (4), senior captain midfielder Brad Dildy (2), sophomore midfielder Emmanuel Aranda (1), freshman midfielder Nzuhri Biggar (1), senior defender Riley Clothier (1), graduate defender Parker Forbes (1), redshirt senior forward Jimiyu Mark (1), freshman midfielder Paul Claes Nielsen (1), sophomore midfielder Louis Peña (1), and redshirt sophomore forward Lucas Wolthers (1).
• In the latest NCAA RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rankings, Belmont sits just inside the top 95 at No. 93, while UIC enters the weekend one spot higher in the RPI rankings at No. 92.
• The Bruins have tallied a pair of results against NCAA RPI top-60 teams – No. 25 Louisville (0-0) and No. 55 Harvard (1-0).
• Going back to last season, Belmont has claimed a result in 14 of its last 15 matches.

Bruins at Home

• The Bruins have posted a result in 37 of their last 43 matches at Rose Park, outscoring their opponents 64-30 during that stretch.
• Since the start of the 2018 season, Belmont is 31-12-13 at home.
• The Bruins have finished .500 or better at home for seven consecutive seasons.

Versus UIC

• Sunday afternoon will be the 11th all-time meeting between Belmont and the Flames with UIC holding a 7-2-1 lead in the all-time series.
• The Bruins are 0-4-1 versus the Flames at Rose Park, including a 2-0 loss the last time UIC visited Belmont on Sept. 16, 2023.
• The two teams were also league opponents in the Horizon League (2014-17).
• Since the Bruins and Flames joined the MVC prior to the 2022 season, Belmont is 2-2-1 versus UIC.
• In the Bruins and Flames' first match as Valley opponents on Oct. 1, 2022, Belmont tied UIC 3-3 at Rose Park.
• The two teams have met twice in the MVC Championship in recent years with the fifth-seeded Bruins ousting the fourth-seeded Flames 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2022 postseason tournament in Chicago. In the first round of the 2023 MVC Championship, third-seeded UIC topped sixth-seeded Belmont 2-1 in the Windy City.
• Last October in Chicago, the Bruins earned their lone MVC win of the season, 1-0, against the Flames. Redshirt junior defender Nate Mefford scored the game-winning goal in the 57th minute.

About the Flames

• UIC (7-1-3, 0-0-2) earned draws in its first two MVC matches, a 1-1 road tie at Bradley to open Valley play on Sept. 27 and a scoreless draw versus Drake at home last Friday.
• The Flames are coming off a high-scoring 5-4 loss at BIG EAST Conference member Marquette Tuesday night. The loss was UIC's first of the season.
• The Flames are 2-1-2 on the road this year with wins at the Big Ten Conference's Northwestern (3-2) and Loyola University Chicago (3-1).
• Last season, UIC went 7-10-0 overall and 3-5-0 in MVC play, finishing sixth in the Valley's final standings. The Flames were bounced 4-1 by third-seeded Bowling Green in the opening round of the MVC Championship.
• Junior midfielder Edouard Nys, a Northeast Community College (Nebraska) transfer, is one of the top goal scorers in the country with 11 through 11 matches. Recently named to the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List, Nys has scored multiple goals in three matches this season. His 11 goals are the second most among all Division I players and he has assisted on another five.
• Senior midfielder Rui Reis was named Preseason All-MVC and has contributed a trio of assists and pair of goals thus far this fall.
• Junior midfielder Darrell Turcios owns five goals and two assists, while sophomore midfielder Carlos Nevarez has distributed a team-best six assists to go along with two goals.
• UIC ranks in the top five nationally in several offensive categories, including leading the nation in shots on goal per match (9.18) and total shots per match (21.36). The Flames' 29 goals on the year are third most in the country, while UIC's 33 assists are fifth most.

Up Next
Belmont makes the trek to DeKalb, Illinois, next Friday to take on Northern Illinois. Kickoff from the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m. The road match will be broadcast through the Huskies' live streaming platform, NIU All-Access.
 
How to Follow
Follow Belmont men's soccer on social media – @BelmontMSoccer on X, formerly 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.