SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State men's soccer scored a season-high seven goals in a rout against conference foe Northern Illinois Sunday night at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium. Seniors Fumiya Shiraishi and James Jennings led the offensive explosion with two goals apiece in a match where four different Bears found the back of the net.

The seven goals are the most the Bears have scored in a match since 2022 when they defeated Cal State Northridge at home, 7-0.

"The guys were ready to play," head coach Michael Seabolt said. "We forced the issue and were able to score early and keep going. I'm proud of the guys' effort. We talked about focusing on the team concept and taking ownership and everybody did that tonight."

The tone of the match took a major shift before the first shot was taken. Senior forward Jesus Barea collided with NIU goalkeeper Atahan Arslan outside the goal box on a long pass in the 10th minute. The contact resulted in an automatic red card for Arslan, forcing the Huskies to play a man down on the field for the remainder of the night.

"We try not to change at all," Seabolt said. "We just stayed focused on what we were doing and kept the mindset as if the game is still 11-on-11."

The early match oddities continued on the first of what ended up being 10 corner kicks for Missouri State. Sophomore midfielder Tyler Caton sent a ball that deflected off an NIU player for an own goal in the 13th minute. The Bears never let up from there, putting up 20 shots to match their season-high against Western Michigan last week.

"We knew we had to start well in this game," junior OIlie Bate said. "We have to go from the first minute, otherwise it could be a tough game against teams like this. We had to make sure we started strong."

Moments later, Shiraishi netted his first goal on the run with an assist from sophomore midfielder Adrián Esteban. Senior forward Sergio Del Castillo scored his first career goal at the Division I level not long after in the 22nd minute also on a corner kick from Caton with the assist.  

Missouri State rarely lost control of the ball and allowed just one shot all match in the 12th minute that went wide-left. The Bears attempted 19 unanswered shots from that point on.

"We prepared and studied them very well throughout the week," senior forward Daniele Verdirosi said, who put up four shots in 57 minutes of play. "We played as we should."

The Bears outshot the Huskies 8-1 in the first half and went into the locker room with a 3-0 lead.

The fireworks resumed less than two minutes after the second-half kickoff. Freshman midfielder Jared Harlock scored his first career goal in a crowded box with assists from Caton and junior midfielder Alex Matthews. 

Missouri State put in eight substitutions in the 75th minute which included reintroductions of Jennings, Shiraishi and freshman midfielder Daniel Souza. All three players played a role in the final three goals scored in the last seven minutes of the match. Souza earned assists on all three goals.

Jennings got on the board in the 83rd minute on a strike from just outside the top of the box. Less than two minutes later, Souza sent a ball out to Shiraishi who beat out a defender to set up a gentle touch off his right foot into the corner of the net. To top it all off, Jennings secured the seventh and final goal with assists from both Shiraishi and Souza in the 86th minute.

Souza is the first Bear to have three assists in a match since Aadne Bruseth had three against Drake on March 22, 2021. Missouri State had eight players earn goals or assists for a total of 23 points.

Missouri State (7-2-1, 3-0-1 MVC) heads back on the road for two matches in Tennessee starting with a conference bout against Belmont (2-6-3, 0-3-1 MVC) on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 6:00 p.m. in Nashville. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.