EVANSVILLE – There will plenty of conference tournament implications on the line on Saturday evening as the University of Evansville men's soccer team will close out the 2016 regular season with a showdown against SIUE at 7 p.m.
UE vs. SIUE (Saturday, 7 p.m.): Live Stats |
The Valley on ESPN3 |
SIUE Website |
Match Notes
The Aces (9-7-2, 4-2-1 MVC) are currently third in the league standings, and a win on Saturday would secure the No. 2 seed for next week's Missouri Valley Conference Championship. A win would do the same for the Cougars, who enter the weekend second in the table with a 4-1-2 MVC mark and an 8-4-4 record overall.
UE, which is looking for its first 10-win season since 2013, has enjoyed an impressive campaign this year, already tripling their win total from a year ago. A major reason for the team's success has been a dynamic offense that's seen 10 different players find the back of the net, including leading scorer Ian McGrath, who with nine on the season, is one away from becoming the first double-digit goal-scorer for the Aces since 2003. He's had plenty of help in the attack as well as Jared Robinson and Ryan Koenig have combined for a fantastic senior campaign, racking up nine goals and seven assists.
Both Robinson and Koenig will be honored for their contributions on Saturday in a special ceremony prior to kickoff.
The service from the UE midfield this season has been especially notable, highlighted by reigning MVC Offensive Player of the Week Zac Blaydes, who is tied for the league lead in assists with nine. Freshman Jesse Stafford Lacey is second on the squad with six.
Defensively, the Aces have been led by the centerback pairing of Chris Shuck and Trevor Baum, and goalkeeper Frederik Reimer has put together an impressive freshman season, posting five clean sheets on the season, the best total for a UE player since 2012.
Meanwhile, SIUE, the only team in the league to record a win over Loyola this season, is riding a nine-match unbeaten streak into the contest.
=== #AcesAces ===
