Two soccer teams with high expectations meet Friday night at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, where the Missouri Valley Conference pre-season favorite University of Evansville Purple Aces meet the defending  Atlantic 10 champion Billikens of Saint Louis University.  Kickoff is at 7:30.

SLU is offering video streaming of its exhibition matches free of charge at http://www.slubillikens.com/index-main.html

Friday's match is the first of three friendlies for the Aces.  They play at home Monday against Cincinnati at 5:00, and play at Ft. Wayne, Ind. on Aug. 28 against Michigan.  The regular season begins Sept. 3 against the Washington Huskies at Portland, Ore.

Six of the eight Missouri Valley Conference coaches chose the Purple Aces to win the 2010 MVC title, making Evansville the solid favorite.  UE won the 1996 MVC Tournament championship but has never won an MVC regular season title in its 16 years as a league member.  The Aces finished second in 1995 and 1996, and third in 1997, 2007 and 2009.

Under fifth year coach Mike Jacobs, Evansville has produced four consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1989 through 1992.  Last year's team finished 12-8-1 and reached the finals of the State Farm MVC Tournament.  The 12 victories were the most since the 1996 team finished 18-5 and went on to play in the NCAA Tournament.

This year's squad is led by three of the top seniors in recent history--midfielder Robby Lynch, and forwards Tom Irvin and Mike Luttrull. Lynch was chosen as UE's Most Valuable Player in 2009, made the all-MVC first team, the all-Midwest Region second team, and earned the William V. Slyker Award as UE's most outstanding male athlete of 2009-10.  Irvin was Evansville's top scorer with six goals and eight assists for 20 points, and earned all-MVC second team and all-Midwest Region third team honors. Luttrull was also a second team all-MVC selection, and was chosen as an Academic All-American. Luttrull goes into 2010 with 20 career goals, Irvin has 14 and Lynch 13. Starting forward Tad Kreamalmeyer, a junior, also returns after tying Irvin and Luttrull for the team lead in goals last season with six.

The entire defense returns intact, led by third team all-Midwest Region central defender Justin Sass.  He and Lynch will serve as team captains this season.  The rest of the back four include Aaron Henkle, Blake Schneider and Jarrett Robbins.  The goalkeeper is junior Phil Boerger, who played all but 45 minutes in 2009 and allowed only 1.10 goals per game.  UE's 25 goals allowed were the second fewest since 1992.

The reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champion Billikens return seven starters and 18 total letterwinners from last year's club that finished 15-7 overall and 7-2 in the A-10. SLU qualified for its fourth straight NCAA Tournament after capturing its first A-10 tournament title. In the NCAA Tournament, the Billikens ousted MVC regular season champ Missouri State 1-0 in the first round at Hermann Stadium. The 2009 season came to an end following a 3-2 overtime defeat at eventual NCAA quarterfinalist Tulsa in the second round.