Bruins Begin League Play Friday Afternoon at Western Michigan

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Beginning Missouri Valley Conference play, the Belmont University men's soccer team closes out a three-match road stretch late Friday afternoon at Western Michigan University. Kickoff from the WMU Soccer Complex in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is set for 3:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. ET.
 
The Valley opener will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Jordan Lass (play-by-play), Brendan Skinner (color commentator) and Tyler Kuehl (sideline reporter) on the call. Live stats of Friday's road match can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins (5-0-3, 0-0-0 MVC) are one of just 21 unbeaten teams in the nation.
• For the first time in program history, Belmont is unbeaten through its first eight matches of the season.
• The Bruins are riding a program-best 10-match unbeaten streak, which dates back to Oct. 25 of last year.
• Through its first eight matches, Belmont has outscored its opponents 13-4 and has not conceded more than a goal in any outing.
• With the first NCAA RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rankings of 2025 released Monday, the Bruins check in at No. 80. Belmont has earned two results against NCAA RPI top-55 teams – No. 45 Harvard (2-0) and No. 54 Bellarmine (1-1).
• The Bruins picked up their fourth road shutout of the season Sunday night on the opposite end of Belmont Boulevard at nearby rival Lipscomb. Evening the Battle of the Boulevard series at 12-12-4, Belmont defeated the Bisons 2-0 behind goals from senior captain midfielder Brad Dildy (29') and freshman forward Jaxon Stokes (58').
• Despite an over one-and-a-half-hour weather delay due to lighting, the Bruins held Lipscomb to only one shot on goal. The victory over the Bisons marked Belmont's first consecutive wins in the Battle of the Boulevard series since 2005. It was also the Bruins' first win at Lipscomb since Oct. 2, 2004.
• Dildy's goal against the Bisons was his first at Belmont. Stokes' second-half score at Lipscomb was his third of the season, moving him into a tie with redshirt junior forward Brock Kiper for the team lead.
• Freshman midfielder Paul Claes Nielsen assisted on both of the Bruins' goals Sunday against the Bisons after knocking in his first career goal last Wednesday evening in Belmont's 3-0 triumph at Southern Indiana. After accounting for four points across the Bruins' two road shutouts last week, Claes Nielsen was named MVC Offensive Player of the Week Tuesday for Belmont's first player of the week recognition this season.
• Nine Bruins have found the back this season – Kiper (3), Stokes (3), sophomore midfielder Emmanuel Aranda (1), senior defender Riley Clothier (1), Dildy (1), graduate defender Parker Forbes (1), 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 year, ranks 16th in the nation in save percentage (.867) and is 18th nationally in goals against average (.510).
• Kiper leads Belmont in both career goals (11) and points (25).
• Seventh-year head coach David Costa is 3-1-2 in conference openers.
• The Bruins are 4-0-1 on the road this season, their lone road draw taking place at Northern Kentucky three weeks ago.
• Going back to last season, Belmont has claimed a result in 11 of its last 12 matches.

Versus Western Michigan

• Friday afternoon will be just the third meeting between the Bruins and the Broncos.
• Western Michigan won the first matchup 5-0 in Kalamazoo.
• The two teams also opened MVC play last September with a 1-1 draw in the Music City.
• The Broncos visited Nashville ranked fourth in the nation as the highest-ranked team to ever play at E.S. Rose Park. Belmont's result against Western Michigan on Sept. 15, 2024, was the Bruins' first against a top-five opponent in program history.
• Belmont played a man down for the closing 33-plus minutes due to redshirt junior defender Nate Mefford picking up two yellow cards. However, it was Mefford's first career goal in the 43rd minute that gave the Bruins a 1-0 halftime lead. The Broncos equalized in the 65th minute.

About the Broncos

• Western Michigan (2-6-0, 0-0 MVC) is coming off a 9-0 shellacking of NCAA Division III Adrian College Monday.
• The Broncos' only other win on the season was on Sept. 1, a 2-1 home triumph over visiting New Hampshire.
• Playing a difficult non-conference schedule, Western Michigan has already faced a trio of nationally-ranked teams, including then 23rd-ranked Cornell (Sept. 13), then third-ranked Akron (Sept. 9) and then 12th-ranked Dayton (Aug. 24).
• In only their third-year in the Valley, the Broncos were picked to finish third in the league's preseason predicted order of finish with a pair of first-place votes. Western Michigan went 3-1-4 in the MVC last season, finishing in a three-way tie for third place in the final Valley standings.
• The Broncos are only two seasons removed from back-to-back NCAA Championship Third Round (round of 16) appearances. In its first season in the MVC in 2023, Western Michigan won both the regular season and conference tournament and finished the year with an impressive 17-1-4 overall record.
• Redshirt sophomore defender Chirstian Shannon, a member of last year's MVC All-Freshman Team, earned a spot on the preseason United Soccer Coaches Defenders Watch List and was named Preseason All-MVC.
• Both graduate forward Piero Sabroso and senior forward Jonathan Stout have scored three goals this season, while junior defender Braxton Arpachinda has found the back of the net twice and assisted on another two goals.

Up Next
Belmont returns to Rose Park next weekend and hosts Bowling Green for alumni night on Friday, Oct. 3. Kickoff from the Music City is slated for 6:30 p.m. All home matches offer free admission and are broadcast 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.