Another week of action around the world of men’s Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) soccer is in the books. Here are the biggest headlines from this past week:
NIU suffers fourth consecutive MVC loss
Northern Illinois (2-10-0, 0-4-0 MVC) hosted No. 14 Western Michigan (8-0-5, 2-0-3 MVC) on Saturday as the Huskies searched for their first MVC victory.
Western Michigan got on the board first with a free kick from sophomore defender Braxton Arpachinda in the 14th minute.
Despite chances for both sides, the scoreline remained unchanged going into the break.
In the 68th minute, sophomore forward Sam Divis picked the ball off the feet of WMU’s goalkeeper, passing it into the open net.
The match remained level until the 84th minute when Western Michigan junior midfielder Ronan Wilcox sent a cross into the six-yard box that deflected off a Huskie defender and into the goal.
With the result, the Broncos extended their unbeaten streak to 34 and moved into third place in the conference. WMU is one of two teams in the country without a loss this season and has held their opposition to one goal or fewer in 24 consecutive matches.
“We need to get hot as we start to come down the home stretch of the regular season,” WMU head coach Chad Wiseman said. “We have learned some lessons through the season, both good and bad, and now we need to put everything together.”
Northern Illinois takes last place in the conference. So far, the Huskies have been unable to find a win or tie in MVC play.
“We put ourselves in a position to get something out of this game, but Western Michigan, all credit to them, they are unbeaten, 14th in the country, and a lot of that is belief,” said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. “They kept working to the end, put balls into dangerous areas, and I think that was the difference between the two teams.”
Jennings, No. 17 Missouri State edge Belmont with back-to-back goals
Belmont (3-7-3, 0-4-1 MVC) faced No. 17 Missouri State (8-2-1, 4-0-1 MVC) on Saturday in an MVC matchup.
Missouri State was led by redshirt senior forward James Jennings, who scored two goals within one minute to give the Bears a two-goal advantage.
Belmont junior defender Dylan Steely cut the Bears’ lead in half in the 58th minute, getting his head on the end of a corner kick, but this would be the only goal by the Bruins.
“The team was playing with a lot of confidence,” said Missouri State head coach Michael Seabolt. “James was playing with a lot of confidence. They were two high-quality finishes. The team is playing well, and he finished off both those plays well.
Missouri State holds first place in the MVC, leading an eight-game unbeaten streak.
Meanwhile, Belmont takes eighth place and continues to search for a conference victory. The Bruins also faced non-conference opponent Covenant College on Tuesday, winning 1-0.
Drake and Bowling Green battle to a scoreless draw
Drake (6-3-3, 2-0-2 MVC) traveled to Bowling Green (9-2-2, 3-1-1 MVC) on Saturday to take on the Falcons.
Despite Drake and BG firing nine and eight shots, respectively, neither team could find the back of the net across the 90 minutes. Both sides created strong chances, but Bowling Green fifth-year goalkeeper Brendan Graves and Drake freshman goalkeeper Tomas Butkovic did well to preserve their shutouts.
Bowling Green stands in second place in the conference, while Drake holds fourth. The Bulldogs are one of three MVC teams without a conference loss this season, joined by Missouri State and Western Michigan.
Bowling Green also faced Detroit Mercy in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, winning 5-2.
Mendy second-half performance leads Evansville to victory
UIC (6-5-0, 2-2-0 MVC) and Evansville (6-5-1, 2-2-0 MVC) faced off on Saturday, with both teams coming off a conference win.
The first half ended in a 1-1 draw after both teams scored an own goal. The Aces’ offense took off early in the second half, with senior forward Nacho Diaz Barragan getting on the end of a cross by senior forward Edward Mendy in the 48th minute.
Mendy doubled the Aces’ lead in the 61st minute, dribbling through the UIC defense for an unassisted goal of his own.
Evansville freshman goalkeeper Michal Mroz had eight saves on the night and leads the MVC in saves per game with 3.75.
Both teams total six points in conference play, tying for fifth place in the standings.
