The University of Evansville men's soccer team climbed higher in the national polls Tuesday, on the eve of its first Missouri Valley Conference match of the season.

Winners of five straight, the 6-2-0 Purple Aces go after their first six-match winning streak since 1996 when they play at Eastern Illinois Wednesday. Game time is 4:00. Coach Mike Jacobs' squad received 13 votes in the adidas/NSCAA national poll and 12 votes in the Soccer Times poll today. Evansville also cracked the top 10 in the NSCAA Midwest Region rankings, now tied for ninth.

Offense has carried the Aces during the recent winning streak. They've scored 16 goals in the last five outings, and five players have already scored two or more goals, led by Tad Kreamalmeyer and Mike Luttrull with four each. UE's attack has been so good that the Aces gave up a total of five goals in their last two matches (5-3 over Stony Brook and 4-2 over Western Illinois), and still won both. Never before in the 36-year history of the program had Evansville allowed that many goals over a two-game period and still come out victorious twice.

Eastern Illinois is 3-2-2 overall, and on a roll lately with three victories and a tie in its last four contests. The Panthers finished second behind host Evansville 10 days ago at the ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic, beating Stony Brook 2-0 and tying IUPUI 1-1. Evansville has a 12-9-4 series lead over the Panthers, including a 3-1 victory at Eastern Illinois last season. With the new double round-robin schedule in the Missouri Valley Conference, Eastern Illinois will return to Evansville's Black Beauty Field next Wednesday to take on the Aces for the second time in a week.