Springfield Standard

Missouri State University's men's soccer team is set to play against Tulsa in an American Conference match on Wednesday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be held at Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Bears have a current season record of 6-5-2 and recently secured a 1-0 victory over Memphis. Prior to that, the team also won matches against Drake (1-0) and South Florida (3-1), handing both the Bulldogs and Bulls their first losses of the season.

A win against Tulsa would secure Missouri State a spot in the conference tournament. At present, the Bears are tied for fifth place with Tulsa and Memphis in the American Conference standings, each holding nine points with two matches left in the regular season. If Missouri State wins both remaining games, they could contend for the regular season title. The team's final regular season match will be at home against Charlotte on November 2; Charlotte is currently tied for first place alongside South Florida and Florida Atlantic.

Fumiya Shiraishi has contributed to 11 out of 19 goals scored by Missouri State this year. He is noted as a three-time recipient of the American Conference Offensive Player of the Week award, becoming the first Bear to achieve this distinction three times in one season.

Senior goalkeeper Will Lowry holds third place all-time at MSU for career goals-against-average with an average of 0.74. The program record belongs to Michael Creek, who posted an average of 0.69 from 2018 to 2021. In 2024, Lowry ranked fifth nationally among goalkeepers with a goals-against average of .674, conceding only nine goals over more than 1,200 minutes played.

Tulsa leads the historical series between these teams with a record of 29-14-3; however, Missouri State won their last encounter during last year's MVC Tournament with a scoreline of 1-0.

Since the start of the 2019 season, Missouri State boasts an overall Division I record of 89-20-12 (.785), including a conference record of 49-5-4 (.879) and a home record ranking fifth-best nationally at 50-9-6 (.815). The team has participated in six consecutive NCAA tournaments since 2019—a streak matched only by Clemson, Georgetown, Indiana, Marshall, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh among Division I programs.

Missouri State appeared in United Soccer Coaches Polls early this season and has been ranked in at least one poll for eight straight years. This year marks their debut season in the American Conference after spending more than three decades competing in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). During their time in MVC play since 1997, they claimed twelve regular-season championships and four tournament titles while making nine NCAA Tournament appearances.

In preseason polls for their new conference home this year, MSU was projected to finish fifth but received one first-place vote. Alex Matthews was named as a preseason all-league selection and is included on the Hermann Trophy Watch List—an honor given annually to college soccer's top player nationwide.

Returning players include four former all-Missouri Valley Conference selections: Alex Matthews (first-team), James Jennings (second-team), Fumiya Shiraishi (second-team), and Will Lowry (second-team).