On the Pitch
• The Missouri State Bears face FIU in an American Conference match-up on the road on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 5:00 p.m.
• The Bears are 3-1-2 on the season. The Bears tied in their latest match against No. 7 Saint Louis, with a scoreline of 1-1. They defeated Temple in their American Conference opener, 4-0.
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Fumiya Shiraishi has scored or assisted 9-of-13 goals scored by the Bears this season. He is ranked first in NCAA Division 1 in points per game (3.00) and ranks second in goals per game (1.33). He is also a three-time American Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the first Bear in history to win three offensive weekly conference award honors in a single season. Shiraishi also played for FIU in 2022-23.
• Senior goalkeeper
Will Lowry is set to become the Bears career leader in goals-against-average. He needs 25 seconds in goal to meet the 1,600 career minute minimum, at which point his 0.62 average will surpass current record holder Michael Creek's 0.69 from 2018-21. He ranked fifth nationally in 2024 in goalkeeper goals against average (.674), letting past only nine goals in more than 1,200 minutes of play.
• This is the first meeting between the Bears and the Panthers.
• 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 86-16-12 (.807), best conference record of 47-2-4 (.925) and fourth-best home record of 48-8-6 (.823). 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 was ranked in the first two United Soccer Coaches Polls and has been ranked in at least one poll in eight consecutive seasons. • Missouri State has only allowed one goal in the second half this season, and ranks 41st in the nation in team goals against average. The Bears' 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 poll, and
Alex Matthews is a preseason all-league selection. Matthews is also one of 29 players on the Hermann Trophy Watch List, given annually to the nations top player.
• The Bears return four all-Missouri Valley Conferences selections from a season ago, including first-team pick
Alex Matthews and secondteam choices
James Jennings,
Fumiya Shiraishi and
Will Lowry.
