GLVC Communications
INDIANAPOLIS – The 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament bracket was released Sunday night by the Conference office. McKendree University earned the No. 1 seed in the eight-team tournament, followed by No. 2 Bellarmine University, No. 3 Maryville University, and No. 4 University of Indianapolis. All four teams will host quarterfinal action on Sunday, Nov. 10, as the opening round of the GLVC Championship Tournament commences.
Top-seeded and regular season champion McKendree (13-2-2, 12-1-2 GLVC/.867) earned its first regular-season title since joining the Conference in 2012 and will play in its second overall league tournament in as many years. The 17th-ranked Bearcats will face No. 8 Drury University (9-7-2, 7-6-2/.533) at 2:30 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, Nov. 10 in Lebanon, Illinois. This is the 10th GLVC postseason bid for the Panthers but the first since 2016. Drury settled for the eighth seed after losing a three-way tie to University of Illinois Springfield and Lindenwood University with a 0-1-1 record against those two teams. McKendree defeated Drury Oct. 4, 2-1, in Springfield.
No. 2 seed and 12th-ranked Bellarmine (13-0-4, 10-0-4/.857) advances to its 28th league postseason and third in a row and will host No. 7 seed Lindenwood (7-6-4, 6-5-4/.533) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time in Louisville, Kentucky. The Lions make school history in their first year as league members by advancing to the postseason and became the seventh seed after coming out in second behind Illinois Springfield but ahead of Drury in a three-way tie with a 0-0-2 mark. The Knights and Lions will return to their first league matchup where Bellarmine pulled out a 3-1 home win on Oct. 6.
Defending GLVC Champion and No. 3 Maryville (14-2-2, 11-2-2/.800) will play in its fourth-straight postseason event when it hosts No. 6 Illinois Springfield (9-7-2, 7-6-2/.533) on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri, at 1 p.m. CT. This will be the Prairie Stars third attempt at capturing a GLVC Championship crown, as they swiped up the sixth seed over Lindenwood and Drury due to the natural order of finish in a three-way tie where UIS was 1-0-1 against those two teams, Lindenwood was 0-0-2, and Drury was 0-1-1. The 24th-ranked Saints will look to repeat their 3-0 home win over UIS from Sept. 29 when they face off next Sunday.
No. 4 University of Indianapolis (12-4-1, 10-4-1/.700) will serve as host to fifth-seeded University of Southern Indiana (8-6-3, 8-5-2/.600) at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Greyhounds are entering the postseason for the seventh-straight season and 27th time overall, while the Screaming Eagles garnered their fifth bid in a row and 23rd overall. UIndy defeated USI on the road, 2-1, in the season’s second GLVC contest Sept. 20.
Each of the four quarterfinal winners will advance to the GLVC Championship Tournament semifinals, which will be hosted for the fourth time in the sport’s history at a neutral site by the GLVC, returning to the Woehrle Athletic Complex in Jeffersonville, Ind. for the second year in a row. The two semifinal contests will be played at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 15, while the 2019 GLVC Championship Tournament final will take place Sunday, Nov 17 at 3 p.m. Last year, fourth-seeded Maryville captured the 2019 GLVC Championship 4-3 in penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw against No. 2 Bellarmine.