EVANSVILLE – Over 900 people streamed into Arad McCutchan Stadium on Wednesday evening as the stadium played host to the first professional outdoor soccer match in the history of the city of Evansville.
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The game, which saw Indy Eleven and Saint Louis FC battle to a 1-1 draw, brought in fans from as far as three hours away as well as the Evansville community as both teams continued to inch closer to the start of their respective regular seasons later this month.
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In the day's earlier match, the Purple Aces dropped their first spring match of the season 2-1 to the Saint Louis FC reserves.
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What they're saying … Â
"It's great to showcase professional soccer in Evansville. The University of Evansville facilities, staff and hospitality are first class and made it a terrific event for the fans and the teams. I hope it was just the first of many professional soccer matches in Evansville." – Peter Wilt, Indy Eleven General Manager
"What a great night for soccer in Evansville. The entire soccer community and the University of Evansville served as great hosts. Both matches were good displays of soccer and hopefully everyone enjoyed the evening and competition as much as Saint Louis FC did. It was great to see everyone there and we hope there are future opportunities for us to compete in Evansville. I'd like to extend a big thank you to Indy Eleven as well as Marshall Ray and his entire staff at UE for helping to make this event happen." – Jeremy Alumbaugh, Saint Louis FC General Manager
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"It was exciting to come out and play somewhere new. It's nice to see new faces, and it was great to come out and hopefully make some new fans. They added a lot of energy to the game tonight, and I was impressed with the amount of people who came out for us." – Duke LaCroix, Indy Eleven forward (recorded an assist in Wednesday's game)
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"It's good to see the fans come out, and it gives us motivation when we're on the field. It was a fast drive to come over here from Saint Louis, and it's a great field. It was a good day to get on a bus with the guys and come out here to get ready for the season." – Irvin Herrera, Saint Louis FC (scored in Wednesday's game)
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"I think it was good for the kids in the community to see soccer at a higher level than what we can provide sometimes, and I think it was also great for us to see what we can accomplish as a group if we're able to get a product on the field that will bring fans out to Arad McCutchan Stadium. I'm looking forward to doing more things like this in the future." – Marshall Ray, University of Evansville men's soccer head coach
