Men's Soccer Opens Season At Belmont And Lipscomb

WIU opens the 2016 season with two straight matches in Nashville, Tenn.

A LOOK AT YOUR LEATHERNECKS:
The Western Illinois men's soccer team is led by Director of Soccer Dr. Eric Johnson, who enters his 20th season at the helm of the program. As a program, 2016 will mark Western's 49th season as a program. Johnson, who enters the season with 200 career wins, returns 17 players to the program while welcoming 11 newcomers. Last season, Western finished fourth in The Summit League Championships.

Western enters the 2016 campaign with two exhibition wins over DePaul (2-1) and Quincy (2-0). Both of the exhibition matches took place at John MacKenzie Alumni Field, whereas the regular season opens with four straight road matches. In total, WIU returns eight starters from last season, along with 17 as a whole. In total, Johnson's roster consists of five seniors, 12 juniors, seven sophomores and four freshmen. Out of 11 newcomers, seven join the program as transfer student-athletes.

SCOUNTING THE OPPONENTS:
Western opens the season with two straight matches in Nashville, Tenn. The first is an Aug. 26 road matchup at Belmont. The Bruins opened exhibition play Aug. 16 against No. 22/24 Charlotte, falling 5-0 on the road. Their next exhibition match against Cincinnati ended in a 1-1 tie at home. Western will be the second of three straight road matches for the Bruins. Belmont is coached by Bryan Green, who enters his third season with the Bruins with a 7-28-2 record. Belmont's roster consists of five returning starters.

Two days later, the Leathernecks will take on Lipscomb (Sunday, Aug. 28) at 1 p.m. The Bisons played Cincinnati to a 0-0 tie in a road exhibition. The same day (Aug. 26) the Leathernecks take on Belmont, Lipscomb plays Florida at home prior to facing Western as part of the Lipscomb/Belmont Challenge. The Bisons are led by head coach Charles Morrow, who holds a 74-99-19 career record.

ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Leathernecks will meet Belmont for the third time in program history. Western trails the all-time series 0-1-1, and will look for its first ever program victory over the Bruins. This will be the first meeting between the two programs since Nov. 5, 2013.

Both Western and Lipscomb will meet each other for the first time in program history.

FOLLOW THE LEATHERNECKS:
Both matches will be available to follow for live stats by clicking on the links to the right. Western's match against Belmont will be streamed via the Bruin Sports Network, which can also be accessed by clicking on the link to view the match.

UP NEXT:
The Leathernecks close out the four-game road slate with back-to-back trips to Southern Methodist (Sept. 2) and Valparaiso (Sept. 4). The first regular season home match takes place Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. against Bowling Green.

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#WIUGAMEDAY INFORMATION

Western Illinois Leathernecks (0-0-0)
vs.
Belmont Bruins (0-0-0)

WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday, Aug. 26, 7:00 p.m.
Nashville, Tenn.

Western Illinois Leathernecks (0-0-0)
vs.
Lipscomb Bisons (0-0-0)

WHEN AND WHERE:
Sunday, Aug. 28, 1:00 p.m.
Nashville, Tenn.

OPPONENT WEBSITES
belmontbruins.com
lipscombsports.com

COVERAGE

LIVE STATS:
BELMONT LIVE STATS
LIPSCOMB LIVE STATS

STREAM:
BRUIN SPORTS NETWORK

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER:
@WIU M ensSoccer
@WIUAthletics

FACEBOOK:
Western Illinois Athletics

INSTAGRAM:
Western Illinois Athletics

PRESEASON INFORMATION

2016 Preseason Quick Facts (.PDF)
2016-17 Preseason Record Book (.PDF)

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