The University of Evansville Aces had to beat Eastern Illinois to stay alive for an MVC Tournament berth, and they did.  They had to beat Central Arkansas to guarantee a berth, and they did.  Now the Aces have put themselves in the same position as the other five teams in this week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament: keep winning in order to advance.  Evansville's first tournament match is Wednesday at 3:00 CST against the number three seed Bears of Missouri State.  All five matches are taking place in Peoria, Ill., home of Bradley University.  You can watch video streaming of the matches free of charge at http://www.mvc-sports.com.  You can hear the matches in the Evansville area on 91.5 FM WUEV, or anywhere at wuev.evansville.edu.

UE’S MVC TOURNEY HISTORY
Evansville is looking for its first MVC Tournament title since defeating Creighton 3-2 in overtime in the 1996 finals.  The Aces advanced to the title game last year for the first time since their championship season of 1996, but fell to host Drake 2-1. Under fifth-year coach Mike Jacobs, the Aces have finished
fifth, third, fourth and second in the MVC Tournament.  Seven players who started in the 2009 finals are expected to be in the starting lineup Wednesday against Missouri State.  They include defenders Aaron
Henkle, Jarrett Robbins and Blake Schneider, midfielders Robby Lynch and Tad Kreamalmeyer, and forwards Tyler Kincaid and Tom Irvin.
 
THE MISSOURI STATE MATCH-UP
Evansville is 2-0 against Missouri State in MVC Tournament play during Mike Jacobs' first four years as head coach, but neither victory came easily.  The Aces won a shootout in the 2007 quarterfinals, 5-3, following a 2-2 tie through 110 minutes.  Last year, Tom Irvin scored the golden goal to give fourth seed
UE an OT semifinal victory against MSU’s regular season champions.  Missouri State dealt UE its most lopsided loss this season, 3-0, on Oct. 20 at Springfield. Gerard Barbero scored in the 24th minute on a PK, and Heath Melugin and Jordan Hoffman added goals in the final seven minutes.  The Bears had a slight advantage in shots, 15-14, and All-MVC goalkeeper Alex Riggs made five saves.

AGAINST THE REST
If the Aces win Wednesday, they’ll face #2 SIU Edwardsville in the semifinals Friday. Evansville is the only team that beat SIUE in league play, 1-0 at UE’s McCutchan Stadium back on Oct. 13 on a header by Robby Lynch in the 53rd minute.  UE lost 2-1 at home in OT to #1 Creighton, lost 2-1 at #4 Drake, and lost 2-1 at number five seed Bradley.
 
IRVIN, LUTTRULL AT TOP OF SCORING LIST
Two of the top three active career scoring leaders in the MVC are Purple Aces.  Senior Tom Irvin ranks number one in the Valley with 17 goals and 30 assists for 64 career points, one more than Creighton's Ethan Finlay.  In third place with 26 goals and 10 assists for 62 points is Evansville senior Mike Luttrull.  Fifth best is Evansville’s Robby Lynch with 18 goals and 17 assists for 53 points.

FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Thirteen players have scored goals for Evansville this year, and five have at least 10 points going into the tournament.  The double figure scorers include Mike Luttrull (6-3-15), Robby Lynch (5-3-13), Tom Irvin (3-5-11), Tyler Kincaid (4-2-10) and Blake Schneider (1-8-10).