For the first time since 1998, the Indiana University men's soccer team is coming to town. IU takes on the University of Evansville Tuesday at 7:00 CDT at Black Beauty Field At Arad McCutchan Stadium. Tickets are available at UE's Carson Center today, and Tuesday at Black Beauty Field beginning at 5:00 when gates open. Three ticket gates will be available--at the northeast corner of the field, on the west side of Carson Center, and behind baseball's Braun Stadium off Rotherwood Ave.

Coach Mike Jacobs' Aces come into Tuesday's match with a 6-2-0 record. Although not ranked in the Top 25, UE received votes last week in most of the national polls. Indiana is 4-2-2, and ranked 14th in the most recent NSCAA/Adidas national poll. The two have met 27 times, including six times in the NCAA Tournament, but have played only twice since 1999. The series was renewed last year and Indiana came away with a 2-1 win at Bloomington. Indiana leads the series 20-4-3, including a 7-3-2 edge in games played at Evansville. The Aces’ most recent win came in the 1990 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. Since then, IU is 9-0-1 against the Aces.

“The rivalry with IU is a huge part of the culture of our program,” says third-year UE coach Mike Jacobs. “For most of the 1980s and 1990s, the road to the Final Four in the Midwest ran through either Bloomington or Evansville. It has been a rivalry in soccer that rivals Duke and UNC in basketball or Ohio State and Michigan in football. It does not take much to get excited for this game.”

Both 6-2-0 Evansville and 4-2-2 IU are trying to climb back up the national polls. Indiana was ranked as high as sixth nationally in the Adidas/NSCAA poll before slipping to 14th last week. The Aces went as high as number 21 in Soccer Times before losing twice on the west coast. UC-Santa Barbara hasn’t been kind to either team. The one common opponent of both teams, UCSB beat the Aces 4-2 at Santa Barbara on Sept. 18, and last Saturday handed the Hoosiers a 2-1 loss at Bloomington. Both teams have allowed 10 goals in eight matches, but Evansville has a 20-11 advantage over the Hoosiers in scoring goals this season. UE’s Mike Luttrull leads the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring with seven goals and three assists for 17 points, and fellow sophomore Tom Irvin is among the national leaders in assists with six. The Aces shut out their fourth opponent of the year Friday with a 6-0 win over Centenary. The Aces haven't posted more than four shutouts in a season since 2003.

"Our team is certainly holding ourselves to a high standard right now, and we've grown quite a bit from our experiences earlier in the season," Jacobs says. "We have received steady play and solid leadership from our veterans, and our younger players have gained valuable experience against strong opposition."

IU sophomore Andy Adlard is one of the Hoosiers’ top players and is tied for second in scoring with four points, but his athletic accomplishments may never match those of his mom. Shelly Brand Adlard is the leading scorer in Aces’ women’s basketball history with 1,713 points. Shelly was also the first NCAA post-graduate scholarship recipient in UE history, in 1985. Andy’s dad is former UE assistant soccer coach Steve Adlard, who went on to become head coach at Marquette University. The Adlards now make their home near Boise, Idaho.