KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team plays its second of four straight home matches on Tuesday against the St. Thomas Tommies.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan remains unbeaten in conference play after a 1-1 draw with the UIC Flames.  The Broncos added another point in the Missouri Valley Conference standings after coming back from a goal deficit on Saturday night. 

While WMU leading scorer Vitor Geromel's penalty kick was saved, junior midfielder Braden Stevanovic recorded his first goal of the season alone for the tie. Geromel led the Brown and Gold in chances with five while four other players had three shots each. Of those four, junior midfielder Josh Veychek and freshman Neo Heyral set new career-highs while junior midfielder Kyle Pierson matched his.
 
SECOND HALF SCORES
Junior midfielder Braden Stevanovic's equalizing goal in the 68th minute of Saturday's match against UIC was the sixth score for Western Michigan in the second half. Of the Broncos nine goals scored through 11 matches, 66% have been scored in the final 45 minutes. 

During the second half, WMU most often scores in the final 15 minutes of the match. Fifty percent of the Brown and Gold's second frame goals were in the 76th minute or later. While the other three second half goals were scored between the 60th and 70th minutes. Western Michigan's three first half goals were either scored within the first five minutes of the match, or with 25-30 minutes on the clock. 

CAREER-HIGH OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
Over the past three matches since starting Missouri Valley Conference play, the Broncos had eight players either set a new career-high or match it. Of those seven players, five had new highs while three only matched their previous career high. At Bowling Green to begin Valley play, midfielder Josh Nicholson and defender Dan McHale had career performances in shots with two each. Nicholson also scored the first goal of his career in the first conference match.

At Detroit Mercy last week, defender Christian Shannon took a career high three shots. While midfielder Liam Biggers (2) and forward Vitor Geromel (6) matched their career performances in shots. Then in WMU's most recent match against UIC, midfielder's Josh Veychek and Neo Heyral both had 3 shots for a career-high. While midfielder/forward Kyle Pierson matched his career-high with 3 shots in 22 minutes against the Flames.

HOME IN OCTOBER
The Brown and Gold began their longest stretch of matches at home this season on Saturday evening. Western Michigan has four straight home matches to begin the month of October, before returning to the road for the back half of the month. The Broncos last had a homestand of four or more games in the regular season two years ago.

During the 2024 season, WMU kicked off its second year in the MVC with five home matches in six scheduled games. The season began with a home victory over No. 14 Vermont before the Brown and Gold went to No. 9 New Hampshire for their second straight ranked win. Western Michigan then came back to the WMU Soccer Complex for four straight matches where the team kept its record home unbeaten streak going to 27 games. Over the 2024 homestand, the Broncos tied with Akron and won matches against Villanova, No. 9 Northwestern, and Air Force.

SCOUTING THE TOMMIES
St. Thomas returns to Kalamazoo for the first time since 2022 with a 4-5-2 overall record through the first month and a half of the season. The Tommies are currently on a two-game losing streak, having dropped a close contest with No. 8 Kansas City over the weekend and, before that, were shut out by fellow Valley team Belmont 3-0 in Nashville. Prior to the losing streak, UST had four victories on the season over Chicago State, St. Cloud State, Milwaukee, and Utah Tech, with results against Green Bay and Eastern Illinois.

The Tommies are led on the field by freshman forward Jacob Nokken with two goals and two assists for six points in 10 games. Three other St. Thomas players have two goals each this season, with senior forward Oliver Corris and sophomore forward Lorenzo Jacon adding an assist as well. In goal, the Tommies have used two goalkeepers but mostly have relied on senior Moritz Krenc. The upperclassman goalie has a record of 4-5-0 with 26 saves and 11 goals allowed for a GAA of 1.22 and a save percentage of 0.703.