No guarantees with women’s soccer tournament

Posted on May 17, 2013 by JonathanLintner

Arad McCutchan Stadium will play host to the 2013 MVC women’s soccer tournament.

The UE women’s soccer program will host this year’s Missouri Valley Conference championship. Due to a league rule change this year, however, there’s no guarantee the Aces participate in it.

Host schools previously gained automatic entry into the six-team field, which leaves one of the MVC’s seven members out of the three-round, single-elimination tournament. Last year, for instance, Creighton went 0-6 in league play during the regular season but made the field over Missouri State because the tournament site was Omaha, Neb.

Missing the postseason altogether likely isn’t a concern for UE, which returns its top three goal scorers — Stephanie Thompson, Abby Springer and Kayla Smith — as well as goalkeeper Simone Busby from a team that won last year’s regular-season MVC title.

“Not that we need more incentive, but obviously we’ve got to play well in enough in the conference to get a spot in the tournament,” said Aces coach Krista McKendree.

The six-team MVC tournament plays its opening rounds at campus sites before the semifinals move to UE’s Arad McCutchan Stadium on Nov. 8. The championship, broadcast last year by Fox Sports Midwest, will be played Nov. 10.

Although McCutchan Stadium is an aging facility, the Aces have had no problem fielding tournaments there in the past.

UE has hosted the women’s soccer tournament three other times, most recently in 2007, as well as the men’s championship three times and last in 2008. McCutchan Stadium has also been the site of 12 NCAA tournament matches, in all making UE’s soccer stadium home to more postseason matches than any MVC school.

“The athletic department takes care of most of it,” McKendree said. “We’ve done it so often that they’re not reinventing the wheel so to speak. They have a plan and might tweak on it here or there. I don’t want to say it’s not time intensive because the behind-the-scenes work of getting hotels and (awards) banquet stuff takes the most coordination.”

There won’t be much profit for UE in hosting a tournament in a non-revenue sport, but all games in the past were broadcast on the MVC’s “Valley Live” web channel. The championship is a regional TV broadcast.

In addition to the three women’s championship weekend games, McKendree said the men’s soccer program is planning a home game for the weekend too.

“The hope is we can create an environment that will be enjoyable for all teams, not just our team, as well as the local youth organizations and getting people to want to come out and watch high-level soccer for the whole weekend,” she said. “It needs to be something where the teams and players feel like people care and want to support the things that are going on.”

UE wraps up volleyball coaching search

Posted on April 27, 2013 by JonathanLintner

Manuel Concepcion

The University of Evansville has filled its volleyball head coaching vacancy that opened after 10-year mainstay Mike Swan resigned in February.

A source close to the coaching search confirmed that Evansville hired Manuel “Manolo” Concepcion, a former Aces assistant under Swan and Western Carolina head coach.

The university will introduce Concepcion at a news conference Monday.

“Honestly, I can’t think of anybody that I’d rather see take over the job than Manolo,” Swan said when reached by phone Saturday. “I think it will be an easy transition for him to come in and continue what I was trying to do there.”

Click here for the full story on Concepcion’s hire.

UE volleyball coach Swan resigns

Posted on March 1, 2013 by JonathanLintner

After 10 seasons at the University of Evansville, Mike Swan has left his job as the Aces’ volleyball coach to take the same position at Valdosta State, a Division II program in southern Georgia.

Valdosta State’s athletic department announced the hiring earlier this week.

Swan coached Evansville to a 124-184 record over the last decade, most recently a 9-22 mark and seventh-place Missouri Valley Conference finish in 2012.

“I could have stayed here for many more years and been happy, but I think sometimes everybody gets a little complacent and accustomed to you,” Swan said. “You get pretty set in your ways, and I just felt like if I’m going to make a move late in my career, now’s the time to do it.”

‘Purple Saturday’ live updates

Posted on November 3, 2012 by JonathanLintner

UE’s fall Homecoming Saturday was a busy one sports-wise.

In action today:

—The UE men’s basketball team routed Division II Illinois Springfield.

—UE’s women’s basketball team knocked off USI in an exhibition game.

—Creighton beat the UE men’s soccer team to claim a MVC regular-season title.

Click below to continue reading for a look back at all the day’s updates.

Continue reading →

UE men aiming for MVC regular-season title

Posted on November 2, 2012 by JonathanLintner

Mike Jacobs

Even with the UE men’s soccer program’s history – twoFinal Fours and 11 NCAA tournament appearances overall – it’s never won a regular-season Missouri Valley Conference championship since joining the league in 1994.

“So really, as proud of a tradition as there is, this is really uncharted territory for us,” said coach Mike Jacobs.

The Aces, who took the MVC conference tournament title in 1996 and finished runner-up on two other occasions, can earn a share of the league’s regular-season crown at 7 p.m. Saturday when they host nationally-ranked Creighton at Arad McCutchan Stadium.

A win would tie UE (9-6-1, 3-1-1) and Creighton (13-3-2, 4-0-1) record-wise as well as give the Aces the No. 1 seed in the MVC tournament with the head-to-head tiebreaker.

With a loss, UE slides to either third or fourth in the final league standings, depending on results of other matches this weekend, and misses out on a quarterfinals bye in the MVC tournament this week in Peoria, Ill.

Senior captain and forward Jesse Sharp and senior reserves Robert Randant and Gavin Chura get the Bluejays, ranked 16^th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, in their last collegiate home match.

“To finish like this, with the opportunity to play a big game in front of a big crowd, in a de facto regular-season championship game is pretty exciting,” Jacobs said.

Fans can use a ticket stub from either the men’s or women’s basketball exhibitions earlier Saturday to gain free admission to Saturday’s men’s soccer match.

UE last beat Creighton, a perennial MVC power, in 2004.

Senior midfielder Jose Gomez leads the Blue Jays as a top returner from a team that in 2011 advanced to the College Cup semifinals, soccer’s version of the Final Four. Gomez has 16 points total this season to tie teammate Timo Pitter, and TopDrawerSoccer.com named Gomez its national player of the week on Oct. 15 after he posted six points – on four assists and a goal – in consecutive road matches.

“He’s definitely one of the top playmakers in the country, and for us a lot of what they do goes through him,” Jacobs said. “He accounts for a lot of their offense.”

Freshmen Faik Hajderovic (five goals and five assists) and Mark Anthony Gonzalez (four goals and one assist) lead an even-keeled UE offense. Nine different Aces have scored goals this season.

Sophomore Eric Teppen has started every match in goal for UE. He has a 1.31 goals against average with 64 saves and five shutouts.

UE women’s soccer wins regular-season MVC crown

Posted on October 25, 2012 by JonathanLintner

Junior midfielder and Evansville native Stehpanie Thompson (right) ranks second on UE’s soccer team in goals scored with four. DENNY SIMMONS/COURIER & PRESS.

Missouri Valley Conference coaches picked the UE women’s soccer team last in their preseason poll, and coach Krista McKendree’s Aces seemed poised to finish there.

Following a 1-6-0 start, UE somehow did just the opposite.

With Drake’s loss to Illinois State on Thursday, McKendree’s team iced a MVC regular-season championship, the first league title for UE in any sport since women’s basketball took the 2009 conference tournament, also with a sub-.500 overall record.

The soccer Aces are 5-7-3 overall, but they went 4-1-1 in league play to trump Drake’s 3-1-2 mark and secure the No. 1 seed in the MVC tournament.

UE finished its regular season on a 4-1-3 run, all with freshman goalkeeper Simone Busby defending the net. Senior Chaviel Harrison, the program’s all-time leader in saves, started the Aces’ first seven matches.

Other freshmen led the team in scoring. Abby Springer notched five goals and Kayla Smith four. Junior Stephanie Thompson also chipped in four.

Drake had to win Thursday based upon the points system that awards three for a win and one for a draw. A Drake-Illinois State tie would have left UE with 13 points and Drake with 12.

With its bye, UE automatically advances to the MVC tournament semifinals.

UE trustees officially say no to football

Posted on October 23, 2012 by JonathanLintner

UE’s trustees last weekend met to discuss, among other things, a report assembled by an independent firm and university team about pros and cons of restarting the school’s football program.

The final answer: No. Not right now, at least.

You can read the full story here.

The basics from UE president Tom Kazee: “One of the things I think the board considered as well was if we were to go down that road, we’d want to make sure we do so with a chance at real success. By success I don’t mean winning championships and that sort of thing. I mean having a program of quality for student-athletes and one that could compete. We felt our ability to get to that point and the resources it would require were in variance with the other priorities on our plate right now.”

And, from athletic director John Stanley what could be next for the Aces with football off the board: “There is a definite possibility that we’d contemplate our sport mix overall. We want to be a guardian for the current sports we have right now, because they’ve all been impactful in a positive way to the student-athletes as well as the overall athletic program. We’re comfortable with the sports we have. Could we do something to enhance those sports somehow to add value to the university? We would always be open to discussions on that, and that would be part of the overall strategic plan.”

Men’s, women’s soccer teams both on rebound

Posted on October 18, 2012 by JonathanLintner

The UE women’s soccer team is 3-1-3 in its last seven matches and knocked off Indiana State 3-0 on Wednesday on a very fall-looking day.

10 p.m., Sept. 22: Kentucky had just shut out UE’s men’s soccer team, the third loss in a row for a bunch that started 4-0.

The UE women, at the time 1-6-2, were due to face top Missouri Valley Conference preseason pick Illinois State the next day.

Things really weren’t going well.

10 p.m., Oct. 17: Things have changed.

The UE men are 4-2 since the Kentucky loss, and the women went on to beat Illinois State 4-1. They’re 3-1-3 in their last seven matches.

Both squads won Wednesday in a soccer doubleheader at Arad McCutchan Stadium, elevating the programs’ status as MVC championship contenders. The UE men are third in the Valley standings, a game behind Bradley, and the women are tied for second with Missouri State.

Evansville hasn’t won a Valley title since the women’s basketball team took its conference tournament in 2009 with a sub-.500 record. The Aces’ soccer squads are in the mix as their seasons wind down.

Mike Jacobs’ men’s team has four matches left before the MVC Tournament starts Nov. 7.

“We talk to our guys all the time about Missouri Valley Conference games,” Jacobs said after the Aces’ 1-0, rain-shortened win over Southern Illinois Edwardsville. ”You have to have a certain amount of mental toughness. You have to have a certain level of resolve. You need to be composed.”

Krista McKendree’s women’s squad finishes its season Saturday at Creighton. Drake controls its destiny in terms of a regular-season championship, but UE stands a chance if the Bulldogs stumble in their last two matches.

“We talk about it a little bit just because I don’t want their first sense of pressure to be in the tournament,” said women’s coach Krista McKendree after the Aces’ 3-0 win over Indiana State. “We’re not going to focus on it, but we will talk about how they’ve put themselves in a very good position to finish anywhere from possibly first to who knows.”

MVC releases 2012-2013 TV package

Posted on October 4, 2012 by JonathanLintner

The Missouri Valley Conference on Thursday released its TV package for the 2012-2013 academic year, most of which consists of men’s basketball telecasts.

UE games listed are Nov. 10 at Notre Dame (ESPN3.com), Drake at Evansville on Feb. 10 (ESPNU or ESPN3.com) and Creighton at Evansville on Feb. 16 (ESPN U).

The release Thursday did not add any previously unannounced UE broadcasts or include MVC TV telecasts already slated: Southern Illinois at Evansville Jan. 5, Evansville at Indiana State Jan. 19 and Evansville at Illinois State Jan. 26.

There’s a potential for more national broadcasts to be added, however, as all 10 MVC teams will participate in this year’s BracketBusters Challenge. UE’s out-of-conference road game either Feb. 22-23 — opponent and date TBA later — could be picked up as one of five BracketBusters contests aired on ESPN 2, four on ESPN U or four on ESPN3.com.

CBS Sports will also air the MVC men’s basketball tournament championship at 1 p.m. March 10.

But most all of the MVC’s TV rights belong to ESPN as the league enters year two of a five-year deal. In all, 48 MVC games will air on the ESPN family of networks during the 2012-2013 academic year, a record for the league.

That deal also contains the following on ESPN3.com: a women’s basketball game (Illinois State at Wichita State on Feb. 1), four matches from the MVC volleyball championships and a minimum 12 games from the baseball tournament.

UE men’s soccer season at a crossroads

Posted on September 29, 2012 by JonathanLintner

The UE men’s soccer team huddles Sept. 9 after its 2-0 win over Cincinnati. Since then the Aces have dropped three straight.

The University of Evansville men’s soccer team: a legitimate NCAA tournament contender or flash in the pan?

The Aces could tell a lot about themselves at 2 p.m. Sunday against Oral Roberts (2-7), which enters after a 5-0 win Friday over IPFW.

“This is like coach-speak, but it’s important because it’s our next game,” said coach Mike Jacobs, whose lineup is made up of mostly underclassmen. “I think too many times young players – peripheral things affect their decision making. To say this is anything more than our next match is just fooling ourselves.”

With another loss, however, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to fool the NCAA’s selection committee into granting the Aces an at-large bid.

Since starting 4-0, a streak that attracted UE votes in national polls, Jacobs’ team has dropped three matches in a row to Saint Louis, Butler and Kentucky.

“I think it’s getting to the point of the season where school’s piling up on the guys,” said senior goalkeeper Robert Randant. “They don’t really know how to deal with that and they have to recommit themselves to consciously trying hard in every practice.

“In preseason, it kind of just happened. Two-a-day practices – you’re going to get better.”

The three losses fell during an eight-day span.

Saint Louis is 5-2 with wins over nationally-ranked Creighton and Louisville. Butler’s win over UE marked the Bulldogs’ second victory of the season, but they’ve tied five other opponents (some ranked) to start the season. And Kentucky beat Evansville during its current four-match winning streak.

“We ran into a buzz saw,” Jacobs said. “I think those were three really good teams we played against. They were teams we were capable of playing with and beating, but there were harsh lessons learned from the standpoint of how fine the line is between winning and losing.”

UE still has time to build a postseason resume.

The NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index won’t come out until later this season. Forty-eight teams make the NCAA tournament – 22 via automatic bids and 26 at-large.

Follow on Twitter (@ECP_Lintner) for updates during tomorrow’s match.

UE wins Missouri Valley’s All-Academic Award

Posted on September 27, 2012 by JonathanLintner

The University of Evansville announced Thursday that it’s received the Missouri Valley Conference’s top academic recognition for a 3.284 grade-point average during the 2011-2012 year.

MVC commissioner Doug Elgin and Patti Viverito, associate commissioner, were on hand at UE’s student-athlete academic honors breakfast Thursday morning when players and coaches heard the news.

The MVC’s All-Academic Award, now in its 10th year, goes to the league member with the best overall GPA among any athletes who compete, practice or receive financial aid through athletics.

Thirteen of UE’s 14 athletic programs and 214 student-athletes factored into the award-winning GPA. Men’s swimming, which competes in the Mid-American Conference, did not.

En route to winning its first All-Academic Award, Evansville had 9.8 percent of its student-athletes post a 4.0 GPA in the spring, 45.3 percent accumulated a 3.5 and 78.9 percent had at least a 3.0, according to the school.

More than half garnered Dean’s List honors at least one semester, and 61 of the 214 made it both semesters.

Evansville snapped Creighton’s streak of winning five consecutive All-Academic Awards. Along with Drake and Indiana State, UE is the fourth school to earn the recognition.

Bolstering the effort was a 3.65 team GPA by the women’s cross country program, 3.618 by volleyball and 3.56 from women’s swimming. The women’s swimming team’s GPA tied for fifth in the nation among Division I programs, and women’s cross country was eighth.

Women’s tennis, women’s cross country, men’s golf and volleyball teams also received academic recognition last season from organizations within their disciplines.

Individually, men’s basketball player Colt Ryan posted a 3.31 GPA while averaging 20.5 points per game, earning him MVC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors. Three baseball players – Trentt Copeland, Jason Hockeymeyer and James Kohler – made the MVC’s Scholar-Athlete First Team.

Reactions (from GoPurpleAces.com news release):

Senior cross country runner Shelby Cron: “We are going to try to become doctors and try to become lawyers, and to be recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference as the best institution in the conference for academics is a bigger honor than any that we could receive in competition.

“Even though we are a small school, this shows that we are doing really big things. To be recognized lets people know that we are doing big things here and that we are making positive changes. For everyone to be recognized for all the hard work they are putting in is truly an honor.”

MVC commissioner Doug Elgin: “This award speaks well to Evansville; the faculty, the student-athletes and coaches. It is a tremendous achievement when you consider the quality of our schools across the board. This was a tremendously uplifting event to see. To see the faculty, student-athlete and staff turnout was great. What an image it was to have all of those student-athletes up there on stage. It is what we’re about in the Missouri Valley.”

Athletic director John Stanley: ”This is an extraordinary honor for the University of Evansville, our athletic department, but most importantly – the student-athletes. We are proud of the work that each and every one of them do on a daily basis in the classroom and on the field. This award proves what most of us have already known – that student-athletes at the University of Evansville are top notch people, students and athletes.”