Entering the final weekend of MVC regular-season play, just three league matches remain on the calendar, two with seeding implications for the 2021 MVC Men’s Soccer Championship, Nov. 9 (at high seed), 12 & 14 in Springfield, Missouri.

Missouri State and Loyola have each officially earned their seed and bye as a top two seed in the 2021 MVC Tournament. 

(Tournament Central)

Below are the seed ranges for all six league teams heading into the final three matches.

Team                    Seed Range
Missouri State            1
Loyola                        2
Evansville                   3, 4
Drake                         3, 4, 5
SIUE                           3, 4, 5, 6
Bradley                       5, 6

The final tourney seeding and bracket will be announced on Saturday, Nov. 6 following the conclusion of the final three regular season matches. 

Bears Win Title Outright
Missouri State clinched sole possession of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship, earning its 10th overall regular season title in program history.  The Bears become the first team since SMU in 2000, 2001 and 2002 to win three-straight outright league crowns. 

Top of the Heap
Including the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons (through Nov. 1), Missouri State leads all of NCAA Division I men’s soccer in win percentage at .908 ahead of New Hampshire, Georgetown, Marshall and Washington.

Top 5 NCAA Win Percentages since 2019
1. Missouri State        44-4-1 (.908)
2. New Hampshire     37-3-6 (.870)
3. Georgetown           43-5-5 (.858)
4. Marshall                 40-6-9 (.809)
5. Washington            41-9-2 (.808)

Winning Streaks
Following its lone loss to Tulsa in the third game of the season, Missouri State has gone on a 12-match winning streak. Since that night on Sept. 3, the Bears are outscoring opponents, 26-5.   The win streak currently is the longest active win streak in the nation.  

The Bears have also strung together 12-straight wins at home, which ranks as the second longest active streak in the nation behind Pittsburgh. 

Current Active Win Streaks (NCAA)
    1.    Missouri State    12        
    2.    Saint Louis          9
    3.    Marshall              7

Current Active Home Win Streaks (NCAA)
    1.     Pittsburgh           18
    2.     Missouri State    12
            Grand Canyon    12

Impressive Stretch
Missouri State has won 26 of its last 27 Valley matches with the lone loss a 2-0 setback to Loyola on April 8, 2021. The impressive stretch is the best in the league since SMU went 26-1-2 in MVC play during the 2000-2002 seasons.
 
Elite Company
Missouri State enters the week with a .933 winning percentage, ranking second nationally.  The Bears (14-1-0) trail only Hew Hampshire (14-0-2, .938). 

Senior CLASS Finalists 
Loyola’s Billy Hency and Missouri State’s Kyle Hiebert were each named two of 10 NCAA men’s soccer student-athletes as finalists for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award. Ballots are now open and include a fan voting component that accounts for one-third of the final vote total, with the ballots closing on Nov. 22. The remaining two-thirds is determined by NCAA Division I coaches and national media members. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2021 NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Cup® championships in December. (VOTE)

Poll Position
Missouri State fell a couple spots in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 this week despite a pair of wins and now sit No. 11.   Missouri State moved up to No. 6 in the College Soccer News Top 30 poll and continue to sit No. 8 in this week’s Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 poll.

BRAD: Tourney Preview?
Saturday’s regular-season finale versus Evansville could be a preview of a MVC Tournament quarterfinal game to follow on Tuesday, Nov. 9 … With a win Saturday, Bradley would earn the No. 5 seed for the MVC Tourney and a matchup at No. 4 seed Evansville if Drake beats SIUE in their Saturday finale … Conversely, an Evansville win would give the Purple Aces the No. 3 seed and guarantee another matchup against No. 6 seed Bradley … The teams also would matchup again in the 3/6 game if they draw and SIUE and Drake play to a tie. 

DU: Look to Bounce Back
The Bulldogs lost to Evansville 2-0 over the weekend. Drake attempted to craft a number of scoring opportunities, but were unable to get past the Aces defense. Bradan Allen and Juan Louis combined for six shots and two on goal. Drake takes on SIUE Saturday at 7pm.

UE: A Week Unlike Another
Last week, Evansville recorded a pair of shutout wins over SIUE and Drake, jumping the Aces into third in the MVC standings. The wins were the first back-to-back shutout wins of two-goals or more, including a road match, by the Aces since 1990, a season in which the Aces advanced to the Final Four.

LUC: Straight to the Semis
With Loyola’s top-two finish in the MVC regular season, the Ramblers earned their fourth-straight semifinal appearance, skipping the quarterfinal round. Loyola’s last appearance in the MVC quarterfinals was in Nov. 2017 when they faced Evansville. The Ramblers solidified their spot as the No. 2 seed heading into the conference tournament, with their first game taking place on Friday, Nov. 12.   

MSU: Goals vs. Goals Allowed
MSU scores goals consistently and has scored in 46 of their 49 matches since 2019. MSU also does not concede many goals. This season, the Bears have only conceded nine goals for a .60 goals against average. During the 2020-21 season MSU had a .79 goals against average on the way to the Sweet Sixteen and in 2019 MSU had a .65 goals against average on the way to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

SIUE: OT Winner
SIUE’s  win over Loyola snapped a three-game losing streak for the Cougars overall and in the all-time series with Loyola. Sunday’s game was SIUE’s sixth overtime game of the season and they are now 3-1-2 in overtime games.The Cougars also improved to 4-7 in one-goal games this year. 

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Players of the Week are Evansville's Jakub Hall and Missouri State's Greg Stratton.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Jakub Hall, R-Jr., F, Evansville
Helping lead Evansville to a pair of wins over SIUE and Drake, redshirt junior Jakub Hall continued his best season in white and purple. Against SIUE on Wednesday, Hall scored what would prove to be the game-winner in the 12th minute off an assist from Jose Vivas in a 2-0 road victory. On Sunday, Hall scored twice in another 2-0 shutout victory, this time a win over Drake. The wins were the first back-to-back shutout wins of two-goals or more, including a road match, by the Aces since 1990, a season in which the Aces advanced to the Final Four. On the season, Hall is now tied for the team lead in goals and is the leader in assists.  

Other Notable Performances: Billy Hency (LUC); Josh Dolling (MSU); Oskar Lenz (SIUE)

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Greg Stratton, Sr., D, Missouri State
The Missouri State defense played decisive, careful minutes in both of the team’s shutout wins over Drake and Bradley last week. The strong backline has not allowed an opponent to score in 436 minutes, recording four shutouts in the Bears’ last four matches. Greg Stratton has been instrumental in the team’s defensive success. The senior stayed on the pitch for 148 minutes of Missouri State’s last two shutouts, helping limit opportunities for opposing offenses. Stratton was a key part of the backline that limited Bradley to one shot attempt, thwarting the Braves efforts all game. Not only that, but he added an assist on the Bears’ third goal of the win against Bradley, helping set up the shot which extended their lead to 3-0. 
 
Other Notable Performances: Jacob Madden (UE); Lukas Ender (LUC)