NOTEBOOK (PDF)
Missouri State sits atop the league standings with nine points (3-0 MVC), while Loyola (2-1-1 MVC) and Bradley (2-1-1 MVC) are one point back. Drake (2-2 MVC) has six points and Valpo (1-3 MVC) has three points. Evansville (0-3 MVC) is searching for its first league win.
Five conference matches will take place this week, beginning with a pair of matches Wednesday. Unbeaten Missouri State will host Bradley and Drake this week, while Evansville will also face both Drake and Bradley. Loyola will return to play after a week off, facing Northwestern in a non-league matchup and Valparaiso.
Bears Remain Perfect
Missouri State extended its winning streak to nine games with wins over Omaha and Evansville last week. The Bears have opened their season with nine straight wins for the first time in program history. The winning streak ranks third nationally behind Navy’s 15-match streak and Virginia’s 10-match streak.
Missouri State is the first MVC program to start a season 9-0-0 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 one of three teams still sitting perfect in all of NCAA Division I, joining Navy and Virginia (Through Oct. 7).
RPI Update
According to RPI Update (not official NCAA) Missouri State sits 34th in the RPI at this point with Loyola coming in at No. 46. The MVC ranks 13th as a conference.
Polling
Missouri State continues to appear in the national rankings this week, appearing at No. 14 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll, No. 21 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25 and No. 21 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll.
Game Winning Firsts
Both of Bradley’s game-winning goals last week came on first-time tallies. Junior forward TJ Rea netted the winner Tuesday night at Valparaiso by punching home his first career goal for the 2-1 victory. Appearing in his fourth career game, freshman Cameron Strang provided the game’s lone goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Drake for his first career goal.
Nationally Ranked Valley Rival
Bradley will visit undefeated and nationally-ranked Missouri State (9-0-0) Wednesday night. Bradley will be looking for its first win against a nationally-ranked team in five tries since its 3-2, overtime win at #3 Northwestern Oct. 2, 2013. The Braves are seeking their first win against a nationally-ranked Valley rival since knocking off #12 Creighton, 3-2, in the semifinals of the 2010 MVC Tournament.
Team Academic Honors
United Soccer Coaches announced on Oct. 3 the Team Academic Award Winners at the high school and college levels to recognize exemplary performance in the classroom during the 2018-19 academic year. College Team Academic Award recipients have a composite grade point of average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale for all players on the roster.
MVC Teams Honored
Loyola, Missouri State, Valparaiso
MVC in Regional Rankings
The MVC has four teams currently ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches West Regional rankings released on Tuesday (Oct. 8). Missouri State sits No. 2 in the region, while Loyola (6th), Drake (9th) and Bradley (10th) also sit in the poll.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Week are Bradley's Roman Schindler and Missouri State's Michael Creek.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Roman Schindler, Sr., F, Bradley
Schindler’s first two points of the 2019 campaign helped lift the Braves to a pair of Missouri Valley Conference victories last week. Now Bradley’s active leader with eight career assists, Schindler assisted the game-winning goal in each of the two games last week, a 2-1 double-overtime win at Valparaiso and a 1-0 victory against Drake. In Tuesday’s win at Valparaiso, Schindler played a cross in from the right flank to help set up TJ Rea’s game-winner with just 1:47 left to play. In Saturday’s 1-0 Homecoming win against Drake, Schindler rose above the fray to head a Jha’Lon Johnson service back in front of the goal, where Cameron Strang knocked home the game’s lone goal at 55:34.
Other Notable Performances: Matthew Bentley (MSU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Michael Creek, Jr., GK, Missouri State
Missouri State goalkeeper Michael Creek played 168:63 minutes between the pipes in back-to-back shutouts posted by the Bears this past week. He kept non-conference opponent Omaha off the scoreboard in MSU’s 1-0 double overtime win against the Mavericks on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Creek played all 106:08 minutes for the Bears and recorded three saves in the match, including an impressive diving save in the 64th minute to preserve the shutout for MSU. The junior from St. Louis collected a season-high four saves in the Bears’ 4-0 win over Evansville on Saturday, Oct. 5. Creek has made all nine starts for MSU this season, securing clean sheets in six of those matches.
Other Notable Performances: Cameron Strang (BRAD); Luke Anderson (DU)