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NORMAL, Ill. – The 2^nd seeded University of Evansville women's soccer team (11-5-3, 3-2-1) will play the 1^st seeded Illinois State Redbirds on Sunday afternoon for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. The match will be held at Adelaide Street Field and begin at 1:00 p.m.
 
Evansville advanced to the MVC Championship game after a 2-0 win over 3^rd seeded Drake on Friday afternoon. Sophomore midfielder Bronwyn Boswell pushed UE ahead 1-0 with a goal in the 45^th minute, just 42 seconds before halftime. Freshman midfielder Montana Portenier increased the UE lead to two with another goal in the 74^th minute. Junior goalkeeper Simone Busby made five saves in the win. It was the Aces 13^th shutout of the season, a new program record.
 
Evansville is led offensively by Boswell who has a team-best nine goals, 19 points, 47 shots, and seven game winning goals this season. Evansville also has four goals from freshman forward Nicki Baham and three goals each by junior defender Holyn Marshall, Portenier and freshman defender Olivia Shafer. Sophomore defender Emily Richardson has a team-high five assists and sophomore midfielder Noor Medlej has added four assists as well. Busby is 11-5-3 this year with a .870 saves percentage and a 0.55 goals against average. She has been a part of 13 shutouts (9 solo) this season. Evansville is averaging 15.1 shots and 1.42 goals per match. The Purple Aces have also taken 95 corner kicks compared to just 52 by their opponents.
 
Illinois State (14-5-0, 6-0-0) won the MVC Regular Season Championship and are also looking to win an MVC Tournament Championship on Sunday.
 
The Redbirds earned a berth in the championship with a 6-2 victory over 5^th seeded Missouri State on Friday night. Rachel Tejada scored four times in the match. Goalkeeper Aryn Newsom also had two saves in the victory.
 
Tejada leads the Redbirds with 17 goals and 10 assists this season. Hannah Leinart also has 10 goals this year for Illinois State. Leinart also has seven assists as well. Newsom is 14-5-0 this season in net for Illinois State with a .728 saves percentage and a 1.16 goals against average. The Redbirds are averaging 18.9 shots and 2.79 goals per match. Illinois State has taken 120 corner kicks this season against just 41 for their opponents.
 
The Redbirds lead 14-7-2 in the all-time series against the Purple Aces. Illinois State has won three straight meetings including a 1-0 victory on the road at Arad McCutchan Stadium in Evansville on October 4. Kelli Zickert scored the only goal in the 60^th minute. The score stopped a UE scoreless streak of over 631 minutes.
 
UE has won six MVC Tournament Championships in the past. The Aces achieved this feat in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2008.