ST. LOUIS – Former Purple Aces women’s soccer great Krissy Meek-Engelbrecht set some firsts for the University of Evansville with her induction into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame on Friday morning.
 
Meek-Engelbrecht became the fourth person from UE to be inducted, joining Arad McCutchan, Jim Byers and Fred Schmalz on the list.  She is the first UE student-athlete to earn the honor along with the first female with Evansville ties.  
 
Adding to the accomplishment is that she is the first women’s soccer player, regardless of school affiliation, to be enshrined.
 
“I am very humbled to be in this class and to represent the University of Evansville in the Hall of Fame,” Meek-Engelbrecht said.  “The credit for this award goes to my teammates, without them, I would not be here today.”
 
The only three-time MVC Player of the Year in MVC soccer history (men’s or women’s), she led the Aces to regular-season conference titles in 1997, 1998 and 1999 while winning the tournament in each of her for years, ranging from 1996 through 1999.  To this day, she ranks second in the MVC in career goals (45) and total points (106).
 
Following her playing career, she assisted former Aces coach Mick Lyon at UE where the led the Aces to the conference championship in 2001.  She is currently in her 10^th season as the head coach at the University of Southern Indiana where she was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2010.
 
Joining her in this year’s class were Bob Portman (Creighton), Jim Bain (former referee), Molly O’Brien (UNI), Nancy Stefani (Drake) and former major leaguer Darren Dreifort (Wichita State).