LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There's always a significant amount of challenges inherent in a youth movement, and the Bellarmine University men's soccer team will confront them all the way to the end of the regular season, as the Knights finish with four road contests over their final five matches.

The time on foreign soil begins at 8:30 p.m. (ET) Friday at Missouri S&T (7-1-4, 6-0-3 Great Lakes Valley Conference) before Bellarmine heads to Drury (9-2-1, 7-2-1) for a 3:30 p.m. match on Sunday.

The two formidable opponents are second (Missouri S&T) and tied for fourth (Drury) in the league. Bellarmine (5-7-1, 4-6) is 10th and in the mix for one of the eight slots available in the GLVC Tournament.

"I definitely think the team has a goal of making the conference tournament," Bellarmine Coach Tim Chastonay said. "The coaches have really stressed improvement each and every day at training. We believe we can get results if we continue to get better."

Missouri S&T remains undefeated in GLVC play. The Miners were involved in three ties over their first four league matches, but they've since won five consecutive GLVC contests, most recently a 1-0 victory over McKendree and a 2-1 triumph over Illinois Springfield. Felipe Andrade is tied for the league lead with eight goals. Unnar Ulfarsson has chipped in five.

"Missouri S&T is having a great year, and they look to be very tough at home," Chastonay said. "They are a very organized team defensively and have a serious attacking player (Felipe Andrade) who is scoring goals. This will be a great challenge for our team to slow him down."

Drury opened the season 7-0 and shot into the national rankings. The Panthers dropped consecutive matches to Quincy and Maryville but regrouped to go 2-0-1 since then, including a 2-1 victory over McKendree most recently. Charles Guelly is also tied for the GLVC lead with eight goals, and teammates Ben Bruce and David Cross are among the top 8 with six apiece. Drury is tied with Southern Indiana for the GLVC's most goals scored (27) this season.

"Drury is another one of the GLVC teams with a great soccer history," Chastonay said. "They are well-coached and are having a great season. They have been ranked very high this season. They have some very dangerous attacking players and are also tough to break down. This will be a very tough Sunday afternoon game for our team."

On Friday, Bellarmine fell behind top-ranked Rockhurst 2-0 after roughly 15 minutes, but the Knights cut their deficit in half a few minutes later before eventually falling 2-1. Bellarmine then got an early goal Sunday from junior midfielder Callum Southern and racked up three more in the second half of a 4-0 win over William Jewell to cap a solid weekend.

"We have been concentrating on speed of play and creating chances in the attacking third," Chastonay said. "It was good to see us score five goals over the weekend. The guys were rewarded for the work they have been putting in at training. I was proud of the way our team responded after going down 2-0 to Rockhurst early. They were able to get a goal back and really created some quality chances in the second half. After a slow beginning to the William Jewell game, the spirit of the team was definitely lifted after the goal from Callum. We scored a couple of really nice goals in the second half."

Performing from the get-go, especially against upper-tier GLVC squads such as Missouri S&T and Drury, will be imperative, Chastonay said.

"The start to games has to improve. We have some young players in the lineup and many have not seen these teams in the past. If we can eliminate early mistakes, it will allow us to stay with our game plan and hopefully will give us a chance to get results."

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Bellarmine at Missouri S&T
Date: Friday, Oct. 14
Time: 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Venue: Missouri S&T Soccer Field
Video
Live Stats

Bellarmine at Drury
Date: Sunday, Oct. 16
Time: 3:30 (ET)
Venue: Harrison Stadium
Video
Live Stats