Nov. 10, 2015

MVC Championship Central | Tournament Notes | Bracket | Watch ESPN

SPRINGFIELD - With an impressive win of the final day of the regular season, the Missouri State men's soccer team (6-5-5, 3-2-1 MVC) grabbed the No. 4 seed for the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament and will face No. 5 seed Loyola (9-4-4, 2-2-2 MVC) at 3 p.m. on Wednesday in the quarterfinals in Edwardsville, Ill.

The Bears' 3-0 home win over Central Arkansas on Saturday got the Bears into a top four seed. Jon Leamy's club has accounted for seven shutouts this season and has allowed fewer than five shots on five different occasions this season.

This will be MSU's 20^th appearance in the MVC tournament in program history and fourth in the last five seasons.

"This is going to be a great tournament," commented Leamy. "There are a lot of tough teams and we are going to face one of them on Wednesday. We are ready to play and give it all we've got. We have been working really hard all season and especially in practice and we are ready to see it all pay off."

The fifth-seeded Ramblers battled MSU to a 0-0 double-overtime draw on Oct. 10 in Springfield. Since the meeting, Loyola has scored four goals in league matches while MSU has netted seven. Since Sept. 25, Loyola has only allowed just two goals, both in the final two league matches against Drake and top-seeded SIU Edwardsville.

The last time MSU and Loyola met in the postseason was in 2014 in the MVC semifinal match in Peoria, Ill. The No. 1 seeded Bears grabbed the 2-0 victory over the No. 5 Ramblers, and headed to the championship final for the second consecutive season.

With a win on Wednesday, the Bears will advance to the semifinals and face No. 1 seed and tournament host, SIU Edwardsville, on Friday at 6 p.m. MSU entertained SIU Edwardsville at home for the first conference match of the season. The match ended in dramatic fashion as MSU's Jack Griffin scored the golden goal with two seconds left in overtime.

All tournament matches will be available for fans to watch via ESPN3. The Valley on ESPN3, part of the Missouri Valley Conference's media rights agreement with ESPN, will feature most home soccer matches from all 10 MVC institutions on the ESPN3 streaming platform in the coming seasons. The HD-quality telecasts are available for free at www.WatchESPN.com or on the WatchESPN App.