CHICAGO -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team is facing its final non-conference team of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan earned a point in a scoreless draw with the Drake Bulldogs. The Bronco defense limited Drake to a lone shot on goal through 90 minutes in a well-earned 0-0 tie on Saturday.

WMU's back line shined in keeping the opposing offense away from the net as the Bulldogs recorded only eight shots. The Brown and Gold had more scoring chances at Mediacom Stadium with three shots on goal, all from different players. Midfielders Josh Veychek and Jordan Klein led Western Michigan's offense with two shots each.

ENTERING THE RECORD BOOKS
In the Broncos' dominant 6-0 win over Holy Cross (Ind.) last week, junior forward Vitor Geromel accomplished an offensive feat even more elusive than a hat trick throughout WMU history. Geromel scored a haul of goals (four goals total) in his eighth match of the season, where he was on the pitch for all 90 minutes. Four goals in a single match is the Brown and Gold's program record and was originally set back in 1977 by Hall of Famer Randy Wojtala.

Since Wojtala's program's best performance almost 50 years ago, only four other players have scored four goals in a match: forwards Saeed Sulemana-Baba and Charlie Sharp, and midfielders Craig Tausk and Ryan Goldman. The most recent four-goal performance came from Charlie Sharp just over four years ago in a home match against Chicago State on October 2, 2022.

VICTORY MILESTONES
On Tuesday night with Western Michigan's win over Holy Cross, Head Coach Chad Wiseman earned the 200th victory of his career. In his 18th season as a Head Coach across two programs, it only took Wiseman a total of 351 matches to reach the new milestone. Since taking over the Broncos in 2013, Wiseman holds the program's all-time wins record for the past two seasons and has a program-best .635 win percentage.

Wiseman is also approaching another coaching milestone in the final weeks of the regular season. WMU's leader is only three victories away from having 150 wins at the helm of the Brown and Gold. Western Michigan would need to run the table for Wiseman to earn his 150th win during the regular season.

EYEING THE MVC TOURNAMENT
Only two conference games remain on the Broncos' schedule as they head into their match with DePaul on Tuesday. WMU takes its conference bye week on Saturday, plays at Belmont next week, and then finishes the regular season at home against Bradley on November 4 for Senior Day.

The top six teams in the MVC make the conference's postseason tournament this year, leaving only one program out at the conclusion of the regular season. The Brown and Gold are currently 5th in the standings, just above the tournament cutoff. Western Michigan is likely to make the postseason as the bottom two teams, Bradley and Drake, are still winless in Valley play with three or fewer games to play. The Broncos have a chance to finish as high as first or place as low as seventh depending on results across the league later this week. But WMU is likely to secure its own postseason fate as the team faces off with Bradley to end the regular season.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEMONS
Tuesday's match between DePaul and the Brown and Gold will be the seventh meeting all time of the two programs. The two teams last faced each other seven years ago in 2019, when the Blue Demons got the better of Western Michigan in overtime at the WMU Soccer Complex in a 1-0 result. The Broncos lead the overall series with DePaul at 3-2-1, and last won in Chicago in 2014.

The Blue Demons are right at .500 on the season with three wins, three losses, and five ties prior to Tuesday's game. DePaul most recently tied with St. John's on Friday in a 0-0 battle after picking up a major conference victory at UConn 2-1 the week prior. On the pitch, the Blue Demons are led by senior midfielder Noeh Hernandez with a team-high six goals and six assists for 18 points. Six other DePaul players have recorded goals this year, with three of those six scoring two or more times. In net, the Blue Demons have mostly used fifth-year goalkeeper Chance Johnson since early September. Johnson has a 2-2-3 record with a 1.83 GAA and 40 saves for a .727 save percentage.