EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men's soccer team hosts Western Michigan in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals on Wednesday at Arad McCutchan Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT.
The Aces enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed after securing a share of the MVC regular season title, earning a first-round bye and advancing directly to the semifinals. Western Michigan, the No. 3 seed, earned its place in the semifinal with a 1-0 victory over No. 6 Drake on Saturday.
Series History
Wednesday marks the 13th all-time meeting between Evansville and Western Michigan. The Aces lead the series 8-2-2. The matchup serves as a rematch of last season's MVC Tournament final, which Western Michigan won 1-0 at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
The teams last met in October in Kalamazoo, Mich., where Evansville earned a 1-0 victory on a penalty kick from
Pablo Calvete.
Scouting the Opponent
Western Michigan enters Wednesday's semifinal with a 6-8-5 overall record and a 2-1-3 mark in MVC play. The Broncos closed the regular season with a 2-1 victory over Bradley before defeating Drake 1-0 in Saturday's tournament quarterfinal.
Western Michigan had five players earn MVC All-Conference recognition. Christian Shannon, Vitor Geromel, and Sahel Yessen were named to the First Team. Goalkeeper Alex Lindewirth earned Second Team honors while Neo Hayral was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
MVC Awards
Following its second consecutive share of the MVC regular season title, Evansville had six players earn All-Conference recognition, including three major individual award winners.
Calvete was named MVC Player of the Year, becoming the first Ace to earn conference Player of the Year recognition since 1991, when Graham Merryweather received the award, and the first to do so as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Devin Shepherd earned Forward of the Year honors after recording four goals and four assists for 12 points during the regular season.
Etienne Ravelli was selected as Defender of the Year, marking the second consecutive season an Evansville player has received the top MVC defensive award, following Martin Wurschmidt's recognition in 2025. All three were also named to the MVC First Team All-Conference squad.
Will Bencic,
Alejandro Fernandez, and
Izán Redondo rounded out Evansville's selections with Second Team All-Conference honors.
Last Time Out
Evansville secured a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title on Wednesday night, defeating Belmont 2-1 at Arad McCutchan Stadium. After trailing 1-0 at halftime,
Marc Martin equalized in the 72nd minute, finding the back of the net for the second consecutive match. Fernandez scored the game-winner in the 84th minute to give the Aces the victory.
Follow Along
The match will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats are available at GoPurpleAces.com.
