NASHVILLE -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team takes its final road trip of the 2026 regular season this week.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan fell to the DePaul Blue Demons 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon. Redshirt junior defender Christian Shannon scored his first goal of the season in the 44th minute. But Shannon's goal was the majority of the Broncos offense in their 5-1 loss at DePaul. 

WMU had a tough task in Chicago as the team played down a man for almost half of the match. Shannon was the only Brown and Gold player to record multiple shots through 90 minutes. While Western Michigan split time in net between goalkeepers Alex Lindewirth and Alessandro Ouzounis.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
With his penalty kick goal at DePaul, defender Christian Shannon becomes the seventh Bronco to score a goal this season.  While forward Vitor Geromel leads the team in scoring by six goals, WMU has a variety of options on offense. Two other Broncos have multiple goals through 16 matches. Forward Sahel Yessen has four goals on the season, all scored within the last three matches. While midfielder Liam Biggers has a pair of goals in 2026 against Kentucky and Bryant. 

Over half of the Brown and Gold's roster has at least one point on the season going into the final two matches of the year. Thirteen players have appeared on a box score with a point, including 10 with an assist on a goal. Four Western Michigan players are tied for most assists on the team with three helpers each, Yessen, Biggers, midfielder Kyle Pierson, and midfielder Gabe Villagomez. Geromel and Yessen lead the way in points for the Broncos as both forwards are in double digits. Just behind the forward pair is Biggers with seven points on two goals and three assists. 

TOP OF THE VALLEY
Forward Vitor Geromel continues to lead the MVC in scoring with 10 goals heading into Friday's match. He is one of just 18 players in the country with at least 10 goals on the year going into the final two weeks of the regular season. Redshirt goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth also leads the Valley in total saves on the year. Lindewirth has 65 saves on the year, and is closely followed by Belmont's Brody Sucher (61) and Bradley's Marçal Salom Chandre (60)  All three of the MVC's save leaders in net rank inside the top 25 nationally in the category, as Lindewirth leads the way at No. 8.

POSTSEASON PREP
WMU has only two games left to play in the regular season before hitting postseason action. The Brown and Gold play their final road match of the season on Friday evening at Belmont. Western Michigan will be looking to climb up the conference standings over the next two weeks after securing its MVC Tournament place with a Drake loss last week. 

The Broncos highest potential seed is second while their lowest is sixth depending on the final two weeks of the season. WMU heads to Nashville on an unbeaten streak against the Bruins. The Brown and Gold have won one matchup with Belmont in 2023 and have earned 1-1 draws in the program's two other series meetings.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Belmont recently suffered its first loss in conference play last week to MVC leaders Bowling Green as the Bruins are 2-1-1 going into the final two matches of the season. Overall Belmont is just above .500 on the year at 6-5-3 with wins over Wright State, Lipscomb, Southern Indiana, and St. Thomas in non-conference action. The Bruins Valley wins came against Drake and Bradley while they tied with UIC 2-2.

Belmont has three players on the pitch producing over 50% of its scoring at the end of October. Graduate midfielder John McDowell just edges out fifth year defender Nate Mefford and sophomore midfielder Paul Claes Nielsen to lead the Bruins with five goals in 13 matches. Mefford and Claes Nielsen are right behind with four goals each while McDowell and Mefford have a team high three assists. In net Belmont has had four different goalkeepers make an appearance but freshman Brody Sucher has played the bulk of those matches. Sucher has a 6-5-3 record with a 1.47 GAA and a 0.753 save percentage.