Men's Soccer Travels to Denver for Regular Season Finale

Western men's soccer faces off against the Denver Pioneers Saturday (Nov. 8) for a chance to win The Summit League regular season championship.

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois men's soccer is set to travel to Denver, Colorado for its final regular season match against the Denver Pioneers on Saturday, November 8 at CIBER Field. A Western win or draw will crown the Leathernecks, Summit League regular season champions and give WIU the no. 1 seed for The Summit League Tournament.

MATCH LOGISTICS

WHO: Western Illinois at Denver
WHEN: Saturday, November 8 at 8 p.m. (CT)
WHERE: CIBER Field, Denver, Colo.

LIVE STATS: HERE
SOCIAL MEDIA: @WIUMensSoccer

GAME NOTES:

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS: The Denver Pioneers enter Saturday's regular season finale with a Summit League record of 2-2-1, 8-7-1 overall... DU currently sits in a four-way tie for third place, on the bubble to miss The Summit League Tournament... In its last action, Denver was defeated 1-0 by league foe, IUPUI in Indianapolis... Bobby Muuss is in his eight season as head coach of the Pioneers... Muuss boasts a career record of 63-48-24 and led Denver to a perfect 6-0 Summit League campaign in 2013... Sophomore forward Eric Kronenberg leads the Pioneer offense with six goals and one assists (13 points)... Oliver Brown, Nick Gardner, and Ryan Massey have split the goalkeeping responsibilities with Massey taking a majority of the minutes, making 15 saves and allowing 17 goals... Gardner saw the most recent action seeing his first minutes of the year against IUPUI... In his first start, Gardner made one save and allowed one goal.

SERIES HISTORY: Saturday's game is just the 4th meeting between WIU and DU in program history... The Leathernecks trail in the series 0-3-0... The teams' met twice in 2013, both matches taking place in Macomb... In the regular season finale Western lost 2-1 but the lone goal marked Denver's only goal against in 2013 Summit League Play... The two teams met again in the Summit League Tournament final, hosted by Western... The Leathernecks season ended with a 1-0 loss as the Pioneers took The Summit League Tournament crown and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois (8-5-3, 3-1-1) enters the weekend following a 2-0 loss to Oral Roberts on Saturday (Nov. 1)... The Golden Eagle's two goals both came in the first half... Saturday's match in Macomb featured three red-card ejections and multiple yellow cards for both teams... The defeat marks WIU's first loss since Sept. 19 at Valparaiso.

CAPITAL ONE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA: Senior goalkeeper Yves Dietrich was placed on the Capital One Academic All-America ballot after being named to the Captial One Academic All-District team on Thursday (Oct. 30).

SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS: On October 25 against IUPUI, senior midfielder Mario Alvarez tied Western Illinois' all-time record for shots in a game with 10... Five of Alvarez's shots went on goal in the match, but none failed to find the back of the net... In 2014, Alvarez has notched career highs in goals (3), and Shot percentage (.120).

ONE OF 'THE BEST AROUND': Team captain Yves Dietrich recorded a career high 11 saves against Drake on Tuesday (Oct. 21)... Dietrich's 11 saves tie the senior for 9th in Western history for saves in one game... The captain did not allow a goal in 586:18 minutes of play, which was previously the longest active shutout streak in NCAA Division I... Despite ending the streak against Drake, Dietrich still boasts a .77 goals against average which ranks 30th in the nation as of November 6... The German native also ranks 12th in the country in saves with 79 and sixth in the nation in save percentage at .859... He leads The Summit League in several statistical categories and is in WIU's career 'Top 10' in seven rankings as well.

HE'S GOT A GOLDEN TICKET: Senior defensemen Charlie Bales has scored a team leading six goals in 2014 and is tied for the third in total points (14) in The Summit League... Since starting the season with eight shots and no points in the first four games, Bales has posted 37 shots, six goals and two assists over the last 12 games... In Western's game against Northern Kentucky the captain notched his first career multi-goal game, converting two out two penalty kick opportunities... He is currently ranked in WIU's career 'Top 10' in four statistical categories... Bales made it to the 'Final 30' for the men's soccer Senior CLASS award that is given to one NCAA Division I senior.

QUALITY NOT QUANTITY: In 2014 the Purple and Gold have been outshot by their opponents 213-225... Despite the discrepancy in attempts, Western has outscored their foes 19-13.

A GAME OF TWO HALVES: The Leathernecks are 8-1-2 in 2014 when scoring first and 6-1-2 when leading at halftime... Western's only loss when scoring first came against regionally ranked Valparaiso on Sept. 19... The Purple and Gold have outscored their foes 11-4 in the first 45 minutes in 2014... In the second half this season, opponents have outshot Western 128-95 but trail in scoring 7-8... Western Illinois has lost only one match by more than one goal all season and has held opponents to an average of .77 goals per game.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Yves Dietrich: GK; 6' 1"; Senior; UW-Whitewater

#10 Mario Alvarez: MF; 5' 10"; Senior; Aurora West

#2 Charlie Bales: D; 5' 8"; Senior; Xavier

Players Mentioned

#1 Yves Dietrich
: 6' 1"; Senior; UW-Whitewater
: GK

#10 Mario Alvarez
: 5' 10"; Senior; Aurora West
: MF

#2 Charlie Bales
: 5' 8"; Senior; Xavier
: D

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Players Mentioned

#1 Yves Dietrich

#10 Mario Alvarez

#2 Charlie Bales

Players Mentioned

#1 Yves Dietrich

#10 Mario Alvarez

#2 Charlie Bales