KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- For the second time this season the Western Michigan Broncos and Missouri State Bears will square off with major implications. On Saturday, the two teams will be competing for an automatic berth in the NCAA men's soccer tournament with a win in tomorrow's title game.  

After suffering a 2-0 defeat to #12 University of Vermont to begin the 2023 campaign, the Broncos have undergone a record breaking season, winning 13 of their last 16 contests, while recording zero losses. 

Previously, the Bears and the Broncos met this season on Sunday, October 22, in Missouri. The two teams dueled out in an incredible match. After falling behind 1-0 after a late first half goal from Missouri State, the Broncos responded in winning fashion in the second half with goals from Tom Cooklin and Charlie Sharp to claim the MVC lead. In turn, the game proved to be the difference between the two teams for the MVC regular season title and Western's number one seed in the MVC tournament this season. Western Michigan concluded the regular season with a 7-0-1 record, while Missouri State would end their regular season campaign with a record of 6-1-1. 

Entering tomorrow's championship game, Charlie Sharp will look to extend his program record for the most goals in WMU men's soccer history.  After Sharp's goal in the 81st minute against NIU on Wednesday, he broke his tie with Dan Edwards (34 goals) for the program lead. Edwards had owned the all-time goals record for nearly 30 years, dating back to 1994. 

Missouri State completed the regular season 10-2-3 and closed out the year with a 5-2 win at Bowling Green and a 2-0 home victory versus Drake. The Bears most recently defeated UIC in the MVC tournament semifinal on Wednesday 1-0.  This season, Gijs Hovius and Jesus Barea have led the Bears in the scoring department with a combined 11 goals in an average of 14.5 games played. Last time out in Wednesday's victory, goalkeeper Jonathan Kliewer made a personal best three saves during his tenure with the Bears.  

The men's soccer team is looking to make its second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, and third Sweet 16 berth overall in program history. The first task to achieve that feat will be tomorrow against the Bears. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and LiveStats are available here. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM at the WMU Soccer Complex. For ticket information click the link here.