No. 24 Missouri State vs. Seattle
Seattle	Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m. Live Stats | ESPN+
Location	Springfield, Mo.
Site	Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium
Missouri State	Match Notes Men's Soccer Home Page
Seattle	Men's Soccer Home Page
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Promotions	Free snow cones
Clear Bag Policy	Clear Bag Policy

On the Pitch
• The 24th-ranked Missouri State Bears begin the 2025 season Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against the Seattle Redhawks at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium. Seattle sits just outside the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, setting the stage for a high-level early season battle between a pair of NCAA Tournament clubs from 2024 that both ranked in the top 15 nationally in scoring last season.
• The Bears and Redhawks have never played in men's soccer. MoState is 11-0-1 against current West Coast Conference membership, most recently defeated Pacific by a 3-0 final in Springfield on August 26, 2024. MSU is 5-1-1 in its last seven season openers, the lone loss by a 3-1 score last season at UC Santa Barbara.
•  Missouri State has achieved three straight 12-win seasons under head coach Michael Seabolt.
• Since the beginning of the 2019 season, Missouri State holds the best Division I overall record of 83-15-10 (.815), best conference record of 46-2-4 (.923) and sixth-best home record of 46-8-5 (.822). The Bears had the 15th-best win percentage in 2024 (.722).
• MSU has made six straight NCAA appearances, joining Clemson, Georgetown, Indiana, Marshall, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh as the only seven DI teams in the nation to make every tournament since 2019.
• Missouri State is ranked No. 24 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll entering the season and has been ranked in at least one poll in eight consecutive seasons.
• MoState has ranked in the top eight nationally in shot accuracy each of the last two seasons. The Bears put 118 of 239 shots on target last season (.494), and ranked four in that category in 2023 (124-of-240; .517). 
• Senior goalkeeper Will Lowry ranked fifth nationally in 2024 in goalkeeper goals against average (.674), letting past only nine goals in more than 1,200 minutes of play.
• Missouri State's stifling defense allowed just 15 goals last season, tied for the ninth-fewest in the nation. 
• The Bears are in their first season in the American Conference in 2025 after spending the previous 34 seasons in the Missouri Valley. MoState enjoyed plenty of success in the MVC, with the program's 12 regular season championships, four conference tournament crowns and nine NCAA Tournament appearances all coming since 1997.
• MSU is picked to finish fifth in the American Conference this season with a first-place vote. The Bears are just two points from second in a tight preseason polls, and Alex Matthews is a preseason all-league selection.
• The Bears return four all-Missouri Valley Conferences selections from a season ago, including first-team pick Alex Matthews and second-team choices James Jennings, Fumiya Shiraishi and Will Lowry.