EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The University of Evansville men's soccer team will host its second Top 25 team of the season on Wednesday.
Â
Evansville is looking for a bounce-back game after struggling early in its 5-1 loss against UIC on Saturday night. The Aces had the early lead in shots, but the Flames found the back of the net early and often to make it a 4-0 game going into halftime. UE came back to score a goal but couldn't overcome the wide gap in 90 minutes. Evansville's lone goal of the game came from freshman midfielder David Hernandez for his first collegiate goal for the Purple Aces. Hernandez is one of four Evansville players to score their first collegiate goal in the 2023 season. Defender Nacho Diaz-Caneja, winger Auden Engen Vik and forward Jacopo Fedrizzi have all found the back of the net for the first time while in an Aces uniform.
UE has its toughest conference test this week in front of fans at Arad McCutchan Stadium. The Aces welcome the No. 10 Missouri State Bears to town before their bye week. The Aces are looking to avenge their 2022 and 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship losses to Missouri State and snap a 10-game losing skid to the Bears. Missouri State is also one of two teams in the MVC that can keep up with Evansville in shot accuracy. UE puts its shots on net 50.3% of the time, while the Bears put a shot on net 52.9% of the time.
Missouri State comes into tomorrow's game as one of three teams tied for the MVC lead with 10 points in four games. The Bears and Western Michigan are the only two teams in the Valley without a loss, both teams having three wins and a tie. The Aces were Western Michigan's lone tie of the season so far after a 2-2 draw on Saturday, Oct. 7. Missouri State is led by senior forward Jesus Barea, senior forward and former Ace Pablo Guillen, and sophomore forward Gijs Hovius with three goals each. But the Bears backbone is senior goalkeeper Harry Townsend who has only allowed four goals in 990 minutes. Townsend is tied for second in the nation in total shutouts (7), 16th in save percentage (.810), second in goalkeeper goals against average (.364), and is a two-time MVC Defensive Player of the Week.
This season will be the first time since 2018 that Evansville hosts multiple Top 25 teams at home. So far the Aces hosted at the time No. 10 Louisville on Sept. 19 and hosts the current No. 10 team in Missouri State. In 2018, UE hosted No. 17 Grand Canyon and No. 2 Indiana in September at Arad McCutchan Stadium. The 2023 season will be the first time in program history that Evansville has hosted multiple Top 10 teams at Arad McCutchan Stadium since UE began tracking rankings in 2004.Â
