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With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, only seven league matches remain on the schedule as teams jockey for seeding for the upcoming MVC Tournament in Chicago. All six MVC teams will take part in the tournament Nov. 13, 15 and 17th at Loyola.
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Tournament Info)
Share of Title Secure
Following Missouri State’s win against Evansville on Saturday and Loyola tying with Drake on Sunday, the Bears clinched at least a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title. Missouri State can claim the program’s eighth regular season conference championship outright with a win or draw in Wednesday’s match at Valparaiso. Missouri State is unbeaten in the all-time series against Valparaiso, owning a 9-0-1 advantage against the Crusaders.
Into Second Place...
A year after going 1-5-0 in the MVC race to finish seventh in the final league standings, Bradley’s four points earned in its two matches last week bumped the Braves into second place in the league standings with 14 total points. Bradley will play non-conference road games Friday at Northern Kentucky and Nov. 4 at Western Illinois, before closing out the regular-season Nov. 9 against Evansville. While a win against Evansville will be key to the race for a first-round bye in next month’s MVC Men’s Soccer Championship, the Braves will need some help as fourth-place Loyola (3-1-3, 11 points) still has three Valley matches remaining.
Long Layoff
Third place Drake has its longest layoff of the season – 13 days – before concluding the regular season by hosting No. 9 Missouri State on Nov. 9.
Looking Ahead
Loyola enters a pivotal stretch with three Valley matches left on its schedule. If Loyola wins two of its final three matches it will guarantee a second seed in the MVC Tournament, earning an opening round bye.
Last Team Standing
Missouri State extended its winning streak to 13 games with Saturday’s win over Evansville. The Bears have opened their season with 13 straight wins for the first time in program history. The winning streak ranks first nationally and sets a new program record.
Missouri State is the first MVC program to start a season 13-0-0 since SMU started the 2001 season 21-0-0 before suffering its only loss in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals to St. John’s.
The Bears are the only team still sitting perfect in all of NCAA Division I. MSU is one win shy of tying last year’s Saint Mary’s (Calif.) team that went 14-0 to start the 2018 season.
Historical Win Streaks
Missouri State moved to 7-0-0 in Valley play for the first time in program history with a win over Evansville Saturday. The streak is tied for the third longest league win streak in Valley history. A win Wednesday at Valpo would put the Bears into second, tied with 2000 SMU’s 8 straight wins.
Longest MVC Match Win Streaks (Valley History)
1. SMU (2001, 2004) 9
2. SMU (2000) 8
3.. Creighton (2002, 2003) 7
Missouri State (2019) 7
Missouri State’s 13 match win streak is also moving up the Valley historical charts.
Longest Overall Win Streaks (Valley History)
1. SMU (2001) 21
2. Creighton (1993) 19
3.. SMU (2000) 14
4. Missouri State (1999, 2019) 13
Road Winning Streak
Missouri State is sitting on a seven match road win streak entering Wednesday’s afternoon match at Valpo. The streak is the second longest nationally behind St. Mary’s (CA) who has won 8-straight on the road.
Elite on Both Ends
The Bears rank 6th nationally with a GAA of .453 (6 goals allowed) and rank 9th in goals per game (2.38). Missouri State is the only team in the nation to rank Top 10 nationally in both categories.
Polling
Missouri State continues to appear in the national rankings this week, sitting in the top 10 at No. 9 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll, No. 13 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25 and No. 15 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll.
Loyola is receiving votes in the TopDrawer Soccer and College Soccer News polls this week.
The No. 9 ranking marks the highest spot for the Bears since the 2005 team peaked at No. 9 during an eight-week stretch inside the top-25. They also became the fourth team in program history to receive a top-10 ranking in the national poll, joining the 1999, 2000, and 2005 teams.
MSU’s highest ranking came in the 2000 season with a No. 3 spot in the Sept. 11 poll.
MVC in Regional Rankings
The MVC has four teams ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches West Regional rankings released on Tuesday (Oct. 29). Missouri State remained in the top spot in the region and sits No. 1, while Loyola (5th), Bradley (9th) and Drake (10th) also appear in the poll.
National Team of the Week
Bradley's Walid Kherat earned a spot on this week’s 11-member College Soccer News Team of the Week.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Week are Valpo's Adan Garcia and Bradley's Walid Kherat.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Adan Garcia, Sr., MF, Valparaiso
Adan Garcia made Valpo history this week by contributing to all three goals in a 3-1 road victory over Drake on Wednesday. He was credited with assists on all three, becoming just the second player in program history and first since 1985 to notch three assists in one game. He became the 20th player in the nation and first in the Missouri Valley Conference with a three-assist showing in 2019.
Other Notable Performances: Leroy Enzugusi (DU); Jakub Hall (UE); Aidan Megally (LUC); Matthew Bentley (MSU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Walid Kherat, Sr., D, Bradley
Not only did Kherat anchor the defensive effort during a pair of shutouts, but he scored the only goal in either of the two games, leading Bradley to a 1-0-1 showing last week that catapulted the Braves into second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Aided by Kherat’s efforts as a central defender, Bradley limited Loyola Chicago to four shots on goal in Wednesday’s scoreless draw and just two shots during the game’s final 44 minutes, 11 seconds. Kherat and his defensive mates again limited the opposition to four shots on goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win against Valparaiso. The senior defender scored his second goal of the season, and third of his career, in the 67th minute by heading home on a long throw sequence for the game-winning tally. Kherat, who netted his first career game-winning goal, logged all 190 minutes in Bradley’s two games last week.
Other Notable Performances: Luke Anderson (DU); Marcel Kampman (LUC); Michael Creek (MSU)