Springfield Standard

Missouri State University's men's soccer team is set to compete against Florida International University (FIU) in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 American Conference Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. The match will take place on Friday, November 7, at Leyva Family Field at FIU Soccer Stadium in Miami, Florida, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

The Bears enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed and hold a season record of 6-5-4. They aim to extend their streak of nine consecutive winning seasons and are seeking their fifth conference tournament championship title. Previous titles were secured in 1999, 2020-21, 2021, and 2022. This year marks their first appearance in the American Athletic Conference after spending more than three decades in the Missouri Valley Conference.

In conference tournament play, Missouri State has accumulated an all-time record of 24 wins, 21 losses, and eight draws. The team is tied with FIU in their series history at one win each. Earlier this season, FIU defeated Missouri State with a score of 1-0 during regular season play on September 21 in Miami.

Key players for Missouri State include Fumiya Shiraishi and senior goalkeeper Will Lowry. Shiraishi has been involved in over half of the team's goals this season—scoring or assisting on eleven out of twenty-one—and leads the conference with eight goals scored. He is also noted as "the first Bear in history to win three offensive weekly conference award honors in a single season." Lowry ranks third all-time at Missouri State for career goals-against-average with an average of 0.76; he allowed only nine goals over more than twelve hundred minutes played last year.

Since the start of the 2019 season, Missouri State holds one of the top records among Division I programs nationwide—achieving an overall record that includes eighty-nine wins—and they have participated in six consecutive NCAA tournaments alongside just six other teams nationally.

The Bears were ranked in both initial United Soccer Coaches Polls for this year and have appeared in at least one poll every season for eight straight years.

"Fumiya Shiraishi has scored or assisted 11-of-21 goals scored by the Bears this season, and leads the American with eight goals scored. He is a three-time American Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the first Bear in history to win three offensive weekly conference award honors in a single season."

"Senior goalkeeper Will Lowry is third in career in goals-against-average at MSU, with an 0.76 average. The record holder Michael Creek held an 0.69 average from 2018-21."

"Lowry ranked fifth nationally in 2024 in goalkeeper goals against average (.674), letting past only nine goals in more than 1,200 minutes of play."

Missouri State's move to its new conference follows notable achievements within its previous league—the program won twelve regular-season championships and four tournament crowns since joining Division I soccer.