EVANSVILLE, Ind. - After a successful spring slate, the University of Evansville women's soccer team returns to competition with its first of two exhibitions when the Purple Aces open the 2018 season with a road exhibition at SIUE in Edwardsville, Ill. at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening.

UE's first exhibition comes at the end of the first week of training for the Aces who returned to campus for their first day of training last Wednesday.

"We have been impressed with the first week of training; the energy, level, and work rate has been high," said Aces head women's soccer coach Krista McKendree. "The mix of returners and new players thus far has blended well and we are excited about the combinations of players we have. "

Evansville is coming off a 2017 season that saw the Aces amass a 6-11 overall record and a 2-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play. In 2017, UE featured one of its most potent offensive attacks in recent seasons as the Aces recorded 21 goals on the year; the most since UE tallied 28 goals in 2014. Much of the offensive firepower returns for Evansville as UE brings back 81% of its goal scoring from a season ago including leading scorer Montana Portenier who scored six times last season.

Defensively, UE brings back all 1,533 minutes spent in goal in 2017 as both sophomore Michaela TIll and junior Julie Rabe return for the Aces.

Along with the returners, Evansville's roster features nine new faces for the 2018 campaign.

"Obviously everyone is looking forward to (Wednesday) to see how things go in a game setting," said McKendree. "We know there will be a range of positives and things we still need to work on but we are really eager to see this team compete."

Wednesday evening's match is the first of a pair of exhibitions for Evansville in 2018 as the Aces also face Eastern Illinois in an exhibition on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Arad McCutchan Stadium. The regular season begins for UE on Thursday, August 16, when Evansville battles SEMO on the road in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
 

• INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, visit GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.

                                   

• DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.

 

• TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.