EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will be the No. 2 seed for next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament after posting a scoreless tie Saturday at Missouri State.

The Cougars finished the regular season with a 9-5-3 record, including a 4-1-2 mark in the MVC. The conference record equaled that of Missouri State, but SIUE gained the higher seed because of its tie at No. 10-ranked Creighton.

With the No. 2 seed, SIUE will have a bye in the opening round and will play Friday at 3 p.m. against the winner of third-seeded Missouri State and sixth-seeded Evansville, which faces off at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Drake takes on tournament host Bradley Wednesday at 6 p.m., the No. 5 seed, is the other quarterfinal game Wednesday. That winner takes on Creighton Friday at 6 p.m.

"It's definitely an advantage to be able to recover and heal up for next week. We had a tough game tonight. We needs to be ready for our match Friday," said Kalish.

The championship game is set for next Sunday at 1:06 p.m. and will be shown live on Fox Sports Midwest.

On Saturday, SIUE had to battle a number of obstacles to gain a tie. Center back Mike Jones was absent from the lineup because of a red card in the Creighton game. Randy Roy sat out the game because of yellow card accumulation.

Kalish had to adjust his lineup with two of his best defenders on the sidelines.

"It was a difficult game. Missouri State is a quality team. However, there's a lot of character on this team," said Kalish. The Cougar coach said the respect he has for this team continues to grow as the season continues.

SIUE goalkeeper Nick Collico earned the shutout with a career a career-high 10 saves. It was his fourth shutout of the season and his second during the MVC season.

"Nick continues to play with a lot of confidence. He has been fantastic this season," said Kalish.

Missouri State outshot SIUE 23-8 on Senior Night at Plaster Field. And that came with SIUE competing with a player down after Nash Maduekwe was red-carded in the 58th minute.

Jack Twellman led SIUE with three shots. Brian Groark added two for the Cougars.

Missouri State's Heath Malugin churned out 10 shots, half of which were on-goal. Five other players recorded two shots each for Missouri State.

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