# 2019 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer season

The 2019 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer season was the 29th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began in late August 2019 and concluded in mid-November 2019.

## Changes from 2018

Central Arkansas left the Missouri Valley Conference as an affiliate member to become an affiliate member of the Sun Belt Conference.

## Teams

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Head Coach | Uniform supplier |
| Bradley Braves | Peoria, Illinois | Shea Stadium | 3,800 | Jim DeRose | adidas |
| Drake Bulldogs | Des Moines, Iowa | Cownie Sports Complex | 2,000 | Gareth Smith | adidas |
| Evansville Purple Aces | Evansville, Indiana | Arad McCutchan Stadium | 2,500 | Marshall Ray | adidas |
| Loyola Ramblers | Chicago, Illinois | Loyola Soccer Park | 500 | Neil Jones | Nike |
| Missouri State Bears | Springfield, Missouri | Robert W. Plaster Stadium | 16,600 | John Leamy | adidas |
| Valparaiso Crusaders | Valparaiso, Indiana | Brown Field | 5,000 | Mike Avery | Nike |

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 15, 2019. Missouri State was picked to win the MVC championship.
| | Team Ranking | Points | First |
| 1. | Missouri State | 32 | 4 |
| 2. | Loyola Chicago | 31 | 1 |
| 3. | Drake | 22 | 1 |
| 4. | Bradley | 18 | 0 |
| 5. | Evansville | 12 | 0 |
| 6. | Valpo | 11 | 0 |

### Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls will be released in July and August 2019.
| | United Soccer | CSN | SoccerAmerica | Top DrawerSoccer |
| Bradley | — | — | — | — |
| Drake | — | — | — | — |
| Evansville | — | — | — | — |
| Loyola Chicago | — | RV | — | — |
| Missouri State | — | RV | — | — |
| Valparaiso | — | — | — | — |

### Preseason all-MVC team

To be announced in August 2019.

## Regular season
### Early season tournaments

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.
| Team | Tournament | Finish |

### Conference results

Each team plays every other conference team twice; once home and once away.
| Home \ Away | BRA | DRA | EVN | LOY | MSU | VPO |
| Bradley | — | 1–0 | Nov. 9 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Drake | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–2 | Nov. 9 | 1–3 |
| Evansville | 0–1 | 0–2 | — | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–1 |
| Loyola Chicago | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | — | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Missouri State | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — | 3–1 |
| Valparaiso | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | Nov. 9 | 2–3 | — |

### Rankings
#### National rankings

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 |
| Bradley | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Bradley | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Drake | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Drake | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Evansville | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Evansville | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Loyola Chicago | USC | NV | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | RV | RV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Loyola Chicago | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Missouri State | USC | NV | NV | NV | RV | 19 | 17 | 14 | 14 | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Missouri State | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | RV | 19 | 19 | 21 | 22 | | | | |
| Valpo | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Valpo | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |

#### Regional rankings — United Soccer West Region

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10 |
| NV | No votes received |
The United Soccer West Region for 2019 compares teams across the Missouri Valley, WCC, and Summit League.
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 |
| Bradley | 10 | 9 | NV | NV | NV | 10 | 10 |
| Drake | NV | NV | NV | NV | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Evansville | 9 | NV | 9 | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Loyola Chicago | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Missouri State | NV | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Valparaiso | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |

#### NCAA RPI Rankings

* Improvement in ranking
* Drop in ranking
| | Wk 6 |
| Bradley | 138 |
| Drake | 133 |
| Evansville | 175 |
| Loyola Chicago | 41 |
| Missouri State | 20 |
| Valparaiso | 140 |

### Players of the Week

| Date | Offensive Player of the Week | Class | Position | School | Defensive Player of the Week | Class | Position | School |
| September 3 | Cole Rainwater | Fr. | FW | Valpo | Jacob McKee | Sr. | DF | Bradley |
| September 10 | Gerit Wintermeyer | Jr. | FW | Bradley | Jack Denton | So. | MF | Missouri State |
| September 17 | Josh Dolling | Jr. | FW | Missouri State | Kyle Hiebert | Jr. | DF | Missouri State |
| September 24 | Stuart Wilkin | Sr. | MF | Missouri State | Luke Anderson | So. | GK | Drake |
| October 1 | Aidan Megally | Sr. | MF | Loyola Chicago | Ben Stroud | Sr. | DF | Missouri State |
| October 8 | Roman Schindler | Sr. | FW | Bradley | Michael Creek | Jr. | GK | Missouri State |
| October 15 | Aidan Megally | Sr. | MF | Loyola Chicago | Greg Stratton | Jr. | DF | Missouri State |
| October 22 | | | | | | | | |
| October 29 | | | | | | | | |
| November 5 | | | | | | | | |
| November 12 | | | | | | | | |

## Postseason
### NCAA Tournament

Two teams from the MVC were selected to the NCAA Tournament: the regular season champions, Missouri State, and the tournament champions, Loyola Chicago. Neither team was given a second round bye. Missouri State was selected to host a first round matchup. In the NCAA Tournament, Missouri State beat Denver in the first round before losing to the ninth-seeded UCF in the second round. Loyola Chicago lost their first round matchup to Kentucky in the opening round.
| Seed | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| — | Missouri State | W 1–0 vs. Denver – (Springfield, MO) | L 1–2 (OT) vs. UCF – (Orlando, FL) | | | | |
| — | Loyola Chicago | L 1–2 (OT) vs. Kentucky – (Lexington, KY) | | | | | |
| | W–L–T (%): | 1–1–0 (.500) | 0–1–0 (.000) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) | 0–0–0 (–) Total: 1–2–0 (.333) |

### Postseason awards and honors

2019 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Aidan Megally – Loyola Chicago |
| Offensive Player of the Year | Matthew Bentley – Missouri State |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Kyle Hiebert – Missouri State |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Michael Creek – Missouri State |
| Coach of the Year | Jon Leamy – Missouri State |
| Freshman of the Year | Andy Mitchell – Loyola Chicago |
2019 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Honorable Mention |
| Michael Creek, R-Jr., GK, Missouri State Kyle Hiebert, R-Jr., DF, Missouri State Walid Kherat, R-Sr., DF, Bradley Ben Stroud, Sr., DF, Missouri State Aidan Megally, Sr., MF, Loyola Chicago Justin Sukow, Jr., MF, Loyola Chicago Stuart Wilkin, Sr., MF, Missouri State Matthew Bentley, Sr., FW, Missouri State Josh Dolling, Jr., FW, Missouri State Leroy Enzugusi, Jr., FW, Drake Gerit Wintermeyer, Jr., FW, Bradley | Nathan Wisbey, Ian Jones, Sr., FW, Missouri State | |

## 2020 MLS Draft

The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was held on January 9 and 13 2020. Two players from the conference were drafted.
| Rnd. | Pick | Player | Pos. | Team | School |
| 4 | 88 | Matthew Bentley | FW | Minnesota United | Missouri State (Sr.) |
| 4 | 92 | Aidan Megally | MF | FC Dallas | Loyola Chicago (Sr.) |

## Homegrown players

The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.
To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.
| Original MLS team | Player | Pos. | School | Ref. |