Men’s Soccer Closes Regular Season at Evansville Wednesday Evening

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Closing out the 2026 regular season, the Belmont University men's soccer team travels to the University of Evansville Wednesday evening. Kickoff from Arad McCutchan Stadium in Evansville, Indiana, is set for 6 p.m.
 
The Missouri Valley Conference road match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats of the contest can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins (6-5-4, 2-1-2 MVC) can clinch the No. 3 seed for the upcoming MVC Championship with a win. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the postseason tournament host first-round matches this weekend.
• With one match left, Belmont (8) has a two-point lead over Western Michigan (6) for third place in the Valley standings. The Bruins have a three-point lead on the University of Illinois Chicago, who sits in fifth place with five conference points.
• Belmont has already secured a spot in the six-team MVC Championship.
• The Bruins earned a 1-1 draw with the visiting Broncos of Western Michigan this past Friday on senior night. It marked the third consecutive year the two teams played to a 1-1 draw.
• After the Broncos took a 1-0 lead a little over 10 minutes into the match, sophomore midfielder Paul Claes Nielsen found the equalizer in the 67th minute.
• In its second-straight outing, Belmont dominated the second half of play. The Bruins outshot Western Michigan 12-6 across the second 45 minutes of action and earned six second-half corner kicks, while allowing only two Bronco corners.
• A week-and-a-half ago on Oct. 25, Belmont outshot Bowling Green 21-3 in the second half on the road. For the match, the Bruins tallied a season-high 31 shots against the Falcons in Ohio, placing 10 on target.
• Belmont has earned a result in nine of its last 12 matches, going 5-3-4.
• The Bruins' senior night draw with Western Michigan this past weekend extended Belmont's home unbeaten streak to seven.
• The Bruins went undefeated through their first three MVC matches for the first time since 2022, Belmont's first season back in the Valley.
• In each of their first three league matches, the Bruins scored two goals.
• Claes Nielsen's equalizing goal against the Broncos last Friday was his fifth of the season, moving him into a tie with graduate midfielder John McDowell for the team lead.
• McDowell assisted on Claes Nielsen's equalizer, his team-leading fourth helper of the season.
• Scoring four penalty kick goals this year, McDowell notched a PK in each of Belmont's first three MVC matches.
• In their first two MVC matches, the Bruins won by an identical 2-1 score courtesy of a McDowell PK and an 88th-minute game winner. Claes Nielsen scored the game winner in Belmont's MVC-opening win at Drake (Oct. 3) and sophomore forward Jaxon Stokes smashed in a remarkable, deep game-winning goal in the Bruins' home victory over Bradley (Oct. 11).
• Belmont captured an MVC Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks to begin the month of October. Claes Nielsen was selected as MVC Player of the Week on Oct. 6 following his game winner over the Bulldogs in Des Moines, Iowa, and fifth-year defender Nate Mefford was chosen as MVC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 13 after assisting on Stokes' game-winning goal against the Braves.
• Mefford, who has found the back of the net four times this season for the second-most goals on the team, is the Bruins' active career leader in goals (7).
• With a crucial assist on Claes Nielsen's game winner at Drake, graduate midfielder Elijah John earned his 20th career point, which is the most of any current Belmont player.
• Freshman goalkeeper Brody Sucher, who owns two clean sheets, has registered a career-high seven saves three times. He has made at least five saves in eight of the last 11 matches.
• Eleven different Bruins have scored this season, accounting for 26 total goals.
• Belmont has scored at least three goals on four occasions this year, including an impressive 6-1 win at Wright State in the Bruins' opening road match.
• Belmont welcomed 10 newcomers this season, including eight over the summer and two in January — senior forward Nathan Ferguson and freshman defender Judah McCloud.
• The Bruins' 2026 class is comprised of six freshmen and four transfers.
• Belmont returned 16 from 2025, including 12 letter winners.
• Only four returning Bruins started matches last season — Claes Nielsen (16), sophomore midfielder Nzuhri Biggar (10), graduate midfielder Ethan Schlegel (9), and senior forward Lucas Wolthers (6).
• After finishing just one point shy of claiming its first MVC regular season championship last year, Belmont was picked fifth in the league's preseason poll as voted by the Valley's head coaches.
• The Bruins went 3-2-2 in MVC play in 2025 and finished 8-3-6 overall.
• Belmont has reached eight victories in three of the last five seasons.
• The Bruins went undefeated through their first 11 matches last season (6-0-5) for the first time in school history.
• Belmont put together a program-record 13-match unbeaten streak from Oct. 29, 2024, through Oct. 7, 2025.
• Claes Nielsen, an MVC All-Freshman Team selection last fall, was named to the Preseason All-MVC Team. The Copenhagen, Denmark, native started all but one match his freshman season and led the Bruins in assists (5).

Versus Evansville

• Wednesday evening will be the 20th all-time meeting between Belmont and Evansville.
• The Bruins have earned a result in each of the last three matchups, including a 2-1 win at E.S. Rose Park on Nov. 5 last year to close the regular season. The victory clinched a No. 4 seed for the 2025 MVC Championship and the right to host in the first round.
• Midfielder Louis Peña recorded a brace in last year's home win over the Purple Aces, scoring in the 39th and 69th minutes after Evansville went up 1-0 in the 28th minute.
• The two years prior in 2024 and 2023, Belmont earned a 2-2 draw with the Purple Aces, including the Bruins' last trip to Evansville on Nov. 6, 2024.
• The two teams have completed the regular season facing off against one another each year since Belmont rejoined the MVC in 2022.
• Four of the six meetings between the two programs since the Bruins have been back in the Valley have resulted in ties.
• In 2022, Belmont played 180 minutes of scoreless soccer against the Purple Aces during the regular season before Evansville prevailed in a single-goal match in the semifinals of the MVC Championship in Springfield, Missouri.
• The Bruins defeated the Purple Aces 2-1 in Nashville in October of 2021.
• The two squads faced off against each other at Rose Park in an opening exhibition match on Aug. 9.

About the Purple Aces

• Evansville (6-8-2, 4-1-0 MVC) is tied with Bowling Green atop the MVC, both with 12 conference points.
• The Purple Aces' lone loss in MVC play was to Bowling Green (1-0) at home on Oct. 17.
• Evansville has scored eight goals across its last three matches, including a 2-1 non-conference win over longtime Belmont rival Lipscomb last Tuesday in Indiana.
• The Purple Aces enter Wednesday riding a three-match winning streak and are coming off a 3-0 road shutout of Bradley this past weekend.
• Evansville also defeated both UIC (3-1) and Western Michigan (1-0) on the road and claimed a 1-0 home triumph over Drake in its MVC opener on Sept. 26.
• The Purple Aces claimed a regular season championship last November and were the top seed for the 2025 MVC Championship. However, Evansville fell 1-0 to the sixth-seeded Broncos in the MVC Championship title match.
• In 2024, the Purple Aces won the MVC Championship as the No. 5 seed, defeating third-seeded Bowling Green 3-2 in overtime in the tournament final.
• Evansville was picked third in the MVC Preseason Poll and received a single first-place vote.
• Sophomore midfielder/forward Devin Shepherd, a member of last year's MVC All-Freshman and All-Tournament Team, leads the Purple Aces with four goals and four assists this season.
• Junior winger Alejandro "Casca" Fernandez has also scored four goals for Evansville this year, while senior midfielder Pablo Calvete has found the back of the net a trio of times.

Up Next
If the Bruins secure a No. 3 or No. 4 seed for the 2026 MVC Championship, Belmont will host a first-round match at Rose Park this Saturday. Kickoff will be scheduled for 6 p.m. from Music City. If the Bruins are the No. 5 seed for the MVC Championship, they will play their first-round match on the road on Sunday. The MVC Championship semifinals will take place next Wednesday, Nov. 11 with the title match set for Saturday, Nov. 14 or Sunday, Nov. 15. The top two seeds in the championship bracket will host next week's semifinals.
 
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.