KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan University men's soccer team hosts its final regular season match of 2026 on Wednesday night against the Bradley Braves.

LAST TIME OUT 
Western Michigan earned its third tie in conference play with a 1-1 result against the Belmont Bruins last week. The Broncos remain undefeated in their series with Belmont as the teams had their third straight 1-1 draw on Friday night in Nashville. WMU finished the road slate of its regular season schedule with the result while junior midfielder Kyle Pierson scored his first goal in a Brown and Gold uniform.

Junior forward Sahel Yessen earned his team-leading fourth assist on Western Michigan's lone score of the match, moving up to second in assists in the Missouri Valley Conference. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth had a career game in net for the Broncos, making eight saves to increase his save percentage to .768.

ADD ANOTHER WEEKLY HONOR
For the second time this season, Lindewirth has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Week by conference office staff. His career-best performance Friday night, making eight saves in a 1-1 draw at Belmont helped WMU secure a valuable road point. The senior goalkeeper faced 19 total shots, including nine on target, and allowed just one goal while playing all 90 minutes. His eight-save effort established a new career high and raised his season save percentage by more than three percentage points, from .735 to .768 and was the first eight+ save performance by a Brown and Gold keeper since Colin Welsh in 2024.

Lindewirth also continued to rank among the nation's top goalkeepers, entering the week 20th nationally in saves per game (4.87) and total saves (73), while ranking 42nd in save percentage among Division I goalkeepers. He was last recognized as the MVC Goalkeeper of the Week on September 29th after shutting out the conference leaders Bowling Green on their home pitch. 

TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
Heading into Wednesday night's match against Bradley, Western Michigan is looking to grab the last top three spot in the MVC Tournament this weekend. After earning a point at Belmont, the Broncos can finish as high as third or as low as sixth for the quarterfinals round of the postseason tournament. 

To earn the number three seed, WMU would need to win against Bradley tomorrow and Belmont would need to lose its match at Evansville. If the Brown and Gold and the Bruins were to tie in the standings, Belmont currently holds the tie breaker with the better conference goal differential. Western Michigan also has the potential to host a quarterfinals match this weekend if they earn either the third or fourth seed. If the Broncos host, their quarterfinals match would be set for 6 p.m. on Saturday. 

HONORING OUR SENIORS
Wednesday night's match against Bradley is also WMU's Senior Day game as the regular season finale. The Brown and Gold will honor their three graduating senior players prior to Wednesday's 7 p.m. match at approximately 6:35 p.m. Western Michigan is recognizing goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth, forward Alek Markovski, and forward Joseph Min this week.

Lindewirth has been with the Broncos for four seasons after transferring from Bellarmine in Louisville. After redshirting his first season in Kalamazoo, Lindewirth has made 35 appearances in net with 32 starts that include seven individual shutouts and three combined shutouts. Markovski has been with WMU since the 2023 season, playing in 31 matches with three starts while totaling two goals and three assists. Min is the newest addition to the Brown and Gold roster, transferring from Seton Hall in the spring. With Western Michigan, Min has played in 17 matches with nine starts that include the last seven games where he assisted on two goals. 

SCOUTING THE BRAVES
Bradley enters the final match of the regular season fighting for a spot in the MVC Tournament against the Broncos. The Braves currently have three points in conference action with a win and two losses to be only a point behind the Drake Bulldogs. Bradley would need to either tie or win tomorrow's match along with a Drake loss to push the Bulldogs out of the tournament. The Braves hold the tiebreaker over Drake as they won their head-to-head match up two weeks ago for their only conference win in 2026.

On the pitch, Bradley's main offensive contributor is senior forward Mitch Coughlon with seven goals on the year. Coughlon ranks second in the Valley for goals while being 75th in the nation after scoring seven across nine matches. But the senior has not scored for the Braves since the end of September against UIC. Since the match in Chicago, four different players have scored for Bradley with midfielder Liam Healey and defender Anel Kafedzic tied for second on the team in goals with three. In net the Braves have relied on senior Marçal Salom Chandre in 15 matches with a record of 3-6-6, a GAA of 1.93, and 65 saves for a save percentage of .691.