SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The last time the University of Evansville men's soccer team visited Missouri State's Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium, it became the first Missouri Valley Conference team to pick up a victory at the Bears' home facility. That achievement is indicative of the impressive turnaround that the Purple Aces have experienced this season as they are set to return to the campus of MSU this week to kick off play in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship tournament.
Missouri Valley Championship (
Tournament Notes) |
Championship Central
UE vs. Drake (Wednesday, 3 p.m.): Live Stats |
The Valley on ESPN3 |
Drake Website
The Aces, who finished the season with a 9-7-3 overall record, earned the No. 3 seed in the conference with a 4-2-2 overall mark. The six-win improvement from a season ago stands as the third-largest single-season swing in school history.
UE's postseason will begin with a showdown against Drake on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. It will be a rematch of the Oct. 22 encounter that saw the Aces come from behind twice, ultimately scoring two goals in the last nine minutes to win 4-3. A win would set up a Friday afternoon rematch with SIUE, which the Aces battled to a 1-1 draw this past Saturday.
On the other side of the bracket, Central Arkansas and Missouri State will square off for an opportunity to play top-seeded and 13
th-ranked Loyola.
One of the biggest reasons for the dramatic improvement for the Aces this season has been a consistently impressive offense that has found the back of the net in all but two matches. Led by the 1-2 scoring combo of Ian McGrath and Jared Robinson, the Aces enter the tournament as the second-highest scoring team in the Valley. McGrath, a junior midfielder out of New Lenox, Ill., leads the team with nine scores, and another would make him the first UE player to score double-digit goals since 2003. Robinson, a senior who had previously scored three goals in his career prior to this year, has found the back of the net seven times.
As is often the case, service has played an important role in setting up the Aces' chances. Zac Blaydes and his nine assists lead the MVC this season, but he's not the only UE player near the league leaders as freshman Jesse Stafford Lacey is third with seven helpers.
Defensively, the centerback tandem of Trevor Baum and Chris Shuck have helped lead the way, but the team will almost certainly be looking to close a few more chances down after surrendering eight goals over the past four matches. Goalkeeper Frederik Reimer has five clean sheets this season, the best for a UE player since 2012, but the last came in a 2-0 decision at Belmont on Oct. 18.
Kickoff on Wednesday is slated for 3 p.m.
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