Springfield Standard

Missouri State University's men's soccer team is set to play against South Florida in an American Conference match on Friday, October 17, at 6:00 p.m. The game will take place at Corbett Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Missouri State enters the match with a season record of 3-5-2. The Bears recently lost to Creighton 1-0, conceding a goal in the 89th minute, and tied against No. 7 Saint Louis with a 1-1 score. They opened their American Conference play with a 4-0 victory over Temple.

South Florida, with a record of 7-0-5, is one of only eight remaining Division I teams without a loss this season. Missouri State's next opponent, Drake, is also among the unbeaten teams. South Florida leads the all-time series 1-0-0, having defeated Missouri State 2-0 in their last meeting in 2015 at Corbett Stadium.

Fumiya Shiraishi has contributed to nine of the Bears' 14 goals this season, either by scoring or assisting. He is the first Missouri State player to earn three American Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors in a single season. Senior goalkeeper Will Lowry is third in Bears history for goals-against average at 0.73, just behind Michael Creek's record of 0.69 from 2018 to 2021. In 2024, Lowry ranked fifth nationally in goals-against average, conceding only nine goals in over 1,200 minutes.

Head coach Michael Seabolt has led Missouri State to three consecutive 12-win seasons. Since the start of the 2019 season, the Bears have posted an overall record of 86-20-12 (.780), which is the best in Division I during that period. Their conference record stands at 47-5-4 (.875), and their home record is 48-9-6 (.810). In 2024, Missouri State achieved the nation's fifteenth-best win percentage at .722.

Missouri State has qualified for six straight NCAA tournaments, joining Clemson, Georgetown, Indiana, Marshall, Wake Forest, and Pittsburgh as the only Division I programs to do so since 2019. The Bears have been ranked in at least one United Soccer Coaches Poll for eight consecutive seasons and were included in the first two polls of 2025.

This year marks Missouri State's first season in the American Conference after spending 34 years in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), where they won 12 regular season titles, four conference tournament championships, and made nine NCAA Tournament appearances since 1997.

The Bears are projected to finish fifth in the American Conference this season and received a first-place vote in the preseason poll. They are two points away from second place in what is described as a close preseason ranking. Alex Matthews is a preseason all-league selection and one of 29 players on the Hermann Trophy Watch List, an award for the nation's top player.

Missouri State returns four players who were all-MVC selections last season: first-team pick Alex Matthews and second-team choices James Jennings, Fumiya Shiraishi, and Will Lowry.