ST. LOUIS – The first GLVC Tournament of the Adam Hall-era of Maryville men's soccer is finally here. The Saints enter the 2024 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men's Soccer tournament as the No. 2-seed and will face Illinois Springfield on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. CT on the campus of Maryville University. The Saints (10-4-4, 9-2-3) play host for the second time this season to the Prairie Stars (5-7-5, 5-4-5), drawing 2-2 on Oct. 20.
 
This year will mark the ninth overall and consecutive appearance for the Saints in the GLVC postseason as they hunt for their fourth league title. The matchup carries some added storylines to it as the Hall was the head coach of Illinois Springfield at UIS, earning GLVC Coach of the Year honors in 2023 as the leader of the Prairie Stars' coaching staff.
 
Each of the four Nov. 10 quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal contests on Friday, Nov. 15, while the final will take place Sunday, Nov. 17. The semifinals and finals will be at Creve Coeur Park in St. Louis.
 
All seven posteason games will be streamed live behind a paywall on the GLVC Sports Network at GLVCSN.com, on Android and iOS mobile apps, as well as OTT apps via AppleTV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Details for broadcast times and cost of the coverage will be announced the week of the tournament.
 
For those making the trip to St. Louis for the matchup, tickets will be $10 for general admission and $5 for kids 5 or under.
 
STORY OF THE MATCH
The last meeting between the Saints saw a 2-2 draw, just the third draw of the season up to that point for the Saints. Omar Cilic, the Saints freshman forward, tallied both goals in the first half, while the Prairie Stars added goals in both halves to reach the draw.
 
The teams on paper are evenly matched in the scoring column as the Saints average 1.389 goals per game with UIS just behind them at 1.353. The bigger difference is on the defensive end as the Saints have allowed just a goal a game this season to the Prairie Stars 1.59 allowed.
 
Leading the Saints on the offensive end has been Mason Crew who is ninth in the GLVC in points with 15 on the year. Joey Fitzgerald of Illinois Springfield is the engine of the Prairie Stars offense, leading with 7 assists and three goals in his 11 games of action. Kevin Herrera sits just behind him, at 12 points on a team-leading five goals.