EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team continues its run in the MVC Tournament in the semifinals on Wednesday.

LAST TIME OUT
A goal in the final five minutes of Saturday's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Quarterfinals match helped Western Michigan University to a 1-0 victory to advance to the semifinal round. Sophomore defender Dan McHale scored his first career goal for the Broncos in the 86th minute against the sixth seed Drake Bulldogs in WMU's first postseason game. 

The Brown and Gold defense smothered Drake's attack allowing only two shots on goal while also blocking half of the Bulldogs shots. Senior forward Joseph Min had a season best match on Saturday night, playing all 90 minutes for the first time in 2026 while also recording a team-high four shots.

SPREAD THE WEALTH
With Dan McHale scoring his first goal in Western Michigan's quarterfinals match, the Broncos now have nine different players who have scored at least once in 2026. Of WMU's nine goal scorers, three players currently account for 75% of the Brown and Gold's offense after 19 matches. Forward Vitor Geromel leads the way with 10 goals, the most by a Western Michigan player since 2023 when both Charlie Sharp and Dylan Sing had 10+ goals each. Behind Geromel is Sahel Yessen and Liam Biggers who both have four goals on the season.

The Broncos also have had several players assist on goals across their 19 matches. Ten WMU players have at least one assist in 2026 and all but two have multiple helpers on the year. Midfielder Kyle Pierson had his team-leading fifth assist on Saturday night's game winning goal. Right behind Pierson is forward Sahel Yessen who has assisted on four other goals this season including the Brown and Gold's lone score at Belmont two weeks ago. 

AWARDS SZN
On Saturday, November 7 five Broncos earned postseason recognition from Missouri Valley Conference Head Coaches for their play this season. Defender Christian Shannon and forwards Vitor Geromel and Sahel Yessen headline the WMU recipients as the team's representatives on the All-MVC First Team. Goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth is the Brown and Gold's lone player on the All-MVC Second Team. While freshman midfielder Neo Heyral was named to the MVC All-Freshman Team.

Geromel, Lindewirth, and Yessen were all recognized during the season for their league leading play. Yessen was the MVC Offensive Player of the Week on October 13 and Geromel was named the MVC Offensive Player of the Week the next week on October 20. Lindewirth is the only Western Michigan player who earned a weekly honor twice during the regular season. The redshirt senior goalkeeper was the MVC Goalkeeper of the Week on both September 29 and November 3.

TOURNAMENT SERIES HISTORY
Going into the semifinal round on Wednesday evening, the Broncos have an overall MVC Tournament record of 5-1-1 in four appearances, having not missed a postseason in over five years. WMU's only loss during the conference portion of the postseason came to its semifinals opponent Evansville two years ago.

This is the third straight year that the Brown and Gold and the Purple Aces will clash in the tournament. The postseason series is tied at 1-1 ahead of Wednesday as each team has a victory on the road in tournament play. Since joining the Valley in 2023, Western Michigan's series record with UE is 2-3-1 following a loss to the Aces at home in the regular season. The loss last month historically bodes well for the Broncos who have come back to win every match in the postseason against Evansville following a regular season loss.

SCOUTING THE PURPLE ACES
Tomorrow night's match will be Evansville's first of the tournament after earning a bye to the semifinals as the MVC Regular Season Co-Champions with Bowling Green. The Aces earned a handful of postseason accolades over the weekend including MVC Player of the Year Pablo Calvete, Forward of the Year Devin Shepherd, and Defender of the Year Etienne Ravelli after going 5-1 in conference play. Overall UE ended the regular season with a 7-8-2 record with non-conference wins against Lindenwood and Lipscomb.

Shepherd and winger Alejandro Fernandez are Evansville's leading offensive players with 12 and 11 points respectively. Fernandez leads the team in goals with five scores and is currently on a two-game scoring streak. While Shepherd has an even attack with four goals and four assists in 17 matches as one of only three players who started in every match for the Aces. In net Evansville has only used graduate goalkeeper Hugo Amo, who allows 1.35 goals per game while making 4.06 saves. Amo has a .750 save percentage and has collected five shutouts on the year.