LEXINGTON, Va. (Oct. 31, 2025) – At the end of a season full of frustration and bad luck, the ETSU men's soccer team can still keep a candle alight for its winning tradition. They just have to do something they haven't done all year: win on the road.
The Bucs visit VMI on Saturday to conclude the 2025 regular season at 3:00pm at Patchin Field. ETSU clinches the number three seed in the 2025 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship with a win as well as the program's ninth winning conference record in 12 years as a member of the SoCon.
MATCHUP: ETSU (2-7-4, 2-2-0) at VMI (2-11-3, 0-4-0)
DATE: November 1, 2025, 3:00pm
VENUE: Patchin Field (Lexington, VA)
LIVE STATS: VMIKeydets.com
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
On the final day of the season, seeding is still up for grabs for the 2025 SoCon Championship. With a win, a UNCG loss, or a draw and a UNCG draw against Mercer, the Bucs finish third and claim the number three seed either outright or by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker with the Spartans. ETSU comes in after a 4-2 win over Wofford boasting the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week in
Jaime Carrillo. The junior from Amarillo, Texas, scored twice in the second half to lift ETSU to the victory and leads the team with five goals this season.
Sergio Baguena has also rounded into form with goals in consecutive games, including the second marker against Wofford last Friday. Buccaneers goalkeeper
Emil Holmberg has seen considerable work, ranking 18th in the country in total saves (63) and 19th in saves per game (4.85). His 63 saves are the seventh-most in a season in ETSU history and the fourth-most by a freshman.
The Keydets have been unable to stack results home or away this season. Their -18 goal differential is the lowest in the SoCon and 194th out of 210 ranked teams nationally. They have scored just eight goals in 14 games against Division I opposition this season, and their only Division I win this season came in a 1-0 home result against Radford on September 24. Freshman Thimson Duolo leads VMI with three goals this season.
This is the 18th meeting between ETSU and VMI in men's soccer. The Bucs have won all 17 prior meetings and have not conceded a goal to the Keydets in 842:04 of game time dating back to the 58th minute of their October 18, 2016 meeting in Lexington. The Bucs won last year's meeting in Johnson City 2-0 with goals from
Shewit Worton and
Gabriel Ramos, while their last trip to Lexington was a convincing 3-0 victory in 2023 where Sebastian Reventlow-Mourier and Tarik Pannholzer both scored inside the first 15 minutes.
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
