Unbeaten Bruins Travel to ACC’s Louisville Tuesday

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Stepping out of Missouri Valley Conference play, the Belmont University men's soccer team travels to the University of Louisville Tuesday for a 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET kickoff from Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.
 
The Bruins' final non-conference match of the season will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra with Jonathan Matthes (play-by-play) and Casey Whitfield (analyst) on the call. Live stats of the road matchup can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Belmont (6-0-4, 1-0-1 MVC) is one of just 14 unbeaten teams in the nation.
• For the first time in program history, the Bruins are unbeaten through their first 10 matches of the season.
• Belmont's program-best 12-match unbeaten streak, which dates back to Oct. 25 of last year, is the third longest in the nation behind only Vermont (21) and the University of Portland (20).
• Through their first 10 matches, the Bruins have outscored their opponents 18-6 and have not conceded more than a single goal in any outing.
• Over the last four matches, Belmont has conceded just six combined shots on target.
• Graduate defender Parker Forbes is a December 2024 graduate of Louisville where he was a three-year letter winner. He totaled 10 points over the last three seasons for the Cardinals after redshirting as a true freshman in 2021, scoring three goals and assisting on another four.
• This past Friday night, the Bruins routed Bowling Green 4-1 at E.S. Rose Park in the Music City following a three-match road stretch. It was the most goals scored in a match for Belmont since a 4-0 road win at Southern Indiana on Sept. 12, 2023.
• Friday's victory was the Bruins' first MVC win of the season after earning a 1-1 road draw at Western Michigan the previous weekend.
• Freshman midfielder Nzuhri Biggar scored on a rebound in the 12th minute following a corner kick, earning his first collegiate goal. Later in the 61st minute, Biggar assisted on Belmont's final goal of the match with a go-ahead pass to finish with three points.
• Redshirt senior forward Jimiyu Mark also scored his first goal donning the Bruins jersey, putting Belmont up 4-1 for good.
• Senior captain midfielder Brad Dildy gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead a little over 20 minutes in on a beautiful strike from just inside the penalty area for his second goal of the season.
• Freshman forward Jaxon Stokes registered his fourth goal of the year to tie for the team lead with a 56th-minute strike that gave Belmont a 3-nil advantage.
• Redshirt senior defender Dylan Steely assisted on Biggar's goal, earning his sixth career assist as the Bruins' current leader.
• Redshirt junior forward Brock Kiper assisted on Dildy's goal, tallying his 28th career point. He leads Belmont in both career goals (12) and points.
• Redshirt junior midfielder Ethan Schlegel delivered a fabulous pass to Stokes at the top of the 18-yard box, securing his first career assist.
• Eleven Bruins have found the back of the net this season – Kiper (4), Stokes (4), Dildy (2), sophomore midfielder Emmanuel Aranda (1), Biggar (1), senior defender Riley Clothier (1), Forbes (1), Mark (1), freshman midfielder Paul Claes Nielsen (1), sophomore midfielder Louis Peña (1), and redshirt sophomore forward Lucas Wolthers (1).
• Graduate goalkeeper Grant Calvert, who owns three clean sheets on the season, ranks in the top 25 nationally in both goals against average (.609) and save percentage (.824).
• In the latest NCAA RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rankings, Belmont is just inside the top 100 at No. 99, while Louisville enters Tuesday ranked in the top 30 at No. 29. The Bruins have earned two results against NCAA RPI top-100 teams – No. 70 Harvard (1-0) and No. 93 Bellarmine (1-1).
• Going back to last season, Belmont has claimed a result in 13 of its last 14 matches.

Versus Louisville

• Tuesday will be the ninth all-time meeting between the Bruins and the Cardinals with Louisville winning all eight of the previous meetings.
• Five of the first eight matchups between the two teams were held in Louisville.
• In seventh-year head coach David Costa's first season in 2019, Belmont was handed a 3-0 loss by the then 24th-ranked Cardinals in Kentucky.
• Last season, the Bruins traveled to preseason No. 24 Louisville for their opening exhibition match.

About the Cardinals

• The Cardinals (5-4-1, 1-4-0) haven't won a match since a 1-0 triumph at Ohio State on Sept. 9.
• Louisville is on a two-match skid after 1-0 setbacks at nationally-ranked Duke and versus North Carolina this past Friday night in Louisville.
• The Cardinals have been shut out in four of their five matches in Atlantic Coast Conference play. However, Louisville's lone ACC win was against then top-ranked and now third-ranked Stanford (1-0) at home on Sept. 5.
• The Cardinals also earned a 2-2 home draw with unbeaten and top-25 ranked Kentucky two weeks ago.
• Louisville was picked 14th out of 15 teams in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll after finishing last in the conference last fall with a 0-5-3 league mark and a 6-7-4 overall record.
• Redshirt junior goalkeeper Alex Svetanoff was named to the ACC Preseason Watch List.
• Two seasons ago, the Cardinals reached the second round of the NCAA Championship. Forbes assisted on Louisville's game-winning goal in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Championship, a 4-3 thriller over the University of Dayton.

Up Next
Belmont hosts the University of Illinois Chicago Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. All Bruin home matches are free to attend and are broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
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.