DEKALB, Ill. -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer begins postseason play on Sunday afternoon on a familiar pitch.

LAST TIME OUT
The Western Michigan men's soccer team ended the 2025 regular season with a late-match 2-1 loss to the UIC Flames. The Broncos fought against a red-hot Flames offense on Wednesday night in their final match of the regular season. 

With a potential bye on the line, WMU wasn't able to find the go-ahead goal to move up the Missouri Valley Conference standings. While the Brown and Gold found an equalizer in the 84th minute on midfielder Liam Biggers' first of the year, UIC scored in the final minute to give Western Michigan the 2-1 loss.

MVC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Sunday afternoon's match will be the Broncos third appearance in the MVC Tournament since joining the conference as an affiliate member in 2023. WMU is appearing in the tournament as the lowest seed for the first time in MVC play. Last season the Brown and Gold were the fourth seed and were eliminated in the first round by Evansville in a 2-1 overtime match. While Western Michigan's first season in the MVC was its best as they swept the tournament for the 2023 MVC Tournament Championship with a 2-1 win over #15 Missouri State.

The last time the Broncos were the sixth seed or lower in conference postseason play was almost 20 years ago in the 2007 season. WMU was the 6th seed in the 2007 MAC Tournament and lost its first round match to Hartwick in penalty kicks 2-4 after both teams scored a goal in full time. 

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois earned a share of the MVC Regular Season title on Wednesday afternoon with a big 4-0 win over Bowling Green. It was only the fourth time this season the Huskies had shutout an opponent in the regular season, including the 0-0 tie with the Brown and Gold back in October. NIU ended the season with 12 points in the Valley race, tied with Evansville and Drake for the regular season title. Due to the tiebreakers of head-to-head record and goal differential, the Huskies earned the third seed and a quarterfinals match.

On the pitch, Northern Illinois is led on offense by freshman forward Vance Sheffield with six goals and five assists for 17 points in 16 matches. He is in the Top 10 in goals, assists, points, shots (34), shots on goal (17) in the Valley. Sheffield is also one of four Huskies who appeared and started in all 16 matches during the regular season. In goal, NIU has mostly played junior goalkeeper Atahan Arslan, who has a 5-4-4 record, a save percentage of .727, and a goals allowed average of 1.10. 

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday afternoon's match will be the 43rd meeting between the Broncos and the Huskies, with the series dating back to the early 1970s. But this will be only the fourth meeting between the two teams in the postseason, and the second meeting in the MVC Tournament. WMU currently holds a 2-1 advantage of Northern Illinois in the postseason with one win in the MAC Tournament in 2018 and one win in the MVC Tournament in 2023.

Earlier this year, the Brown and Gold shutout the Huskies in a 0-0 tie on October 11 for Homecoming Weekend. Goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth earned the first shutout of his career facing NIU in October, making five saves through 90 minutes in goal.