| University of Massachusetts Men’s Soccer Notes & Information | |
| Matchup | Massachusetts vs. Evansville (NCAA Tournament First Round) |
| Date | Time | Wednesdayy, Nov. 21 | 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Location | Rudd Field | Amherst, Mass. |
| @UMassMSoccer | |
| UMass Men’s Soccer | |
| UMass Men’s Soccer | |
AMHERST, Mass. – Massachusetts (10-3-5, 5-2-1 A10) is set for an NCAA first round matchup with Evansville (11-6-3, 4-3-1 MVC) Thursday afternoon at Rudd Field. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. with action streaming live on ESPN+. The winning team will travel to Philadelphia, taking on the No. 6-seeded Penn on Sunday, Nov. 24.
Last Time Out
The Minutemen are coming off a draw against Saint Louis in the first round of the A10 conference championship. Massachusetts dropped a 3-0 decision in shootouts, allowing the Billikens to advance to next round. Senior goalkeeper Alex Geczy recorded his eighth clean sheet of the year. Matt Cence led the Minutemen with three shots, creating the only shot on goal for UMass.
Eyes on the Minutemen
UMass was ranked 20th nationally in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and 23rd in the NCAA RPI. This put the Minutemen within the top 25 teams nationally.
Hughes Makes History
Alec Hughes broke the record for All-Time goals scored in program history, passing Jeff Deren’s (’03) record of 48, scoring a brace on the road against St. Bonaventure. Hughes is tied for third in the NCAA top goal scorer chart with 14 goals on the season and ranks 7th in the country with 29 points. He currently trails recent Massachusetts Athletics Hall of Famer inductee Jeff Deren on total points in program history (113), with Hughes having 106 points.
Deren (’99-’03) was announced as an inductee into the Hall of Fame this past August, helping the Minutemen to Atlantic 10 regular season championships in 2000 and 2002 while also leading UMass to the 2001 Atlantic 10 Tournament championship and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Deren was twice named an All-American (2001, 2002), Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year (2001, 2002) and an All-New England honoree (2001, 2002).
A Look at the Squad
UMass returns 16 players from last year’s roster including Hughes and fellow graduate student Mike Willis.
Additionally, the Minutemen welcome nine newcomers featuring Dean Linden (Fr.), Sean Fernandez-Davila (Fr.), Joseph Bianco (Jr.), Johan Feilscher (Gr.), Kyle Stenzel (Gr.), Bilal Hersi (Gr.), Chris Giglio (Gr.), Layton Purchase (Gr.), and Oliver Akintade (Gr.).
Scouting Evansville
UMass meets Evansville for the first time since the opening match of the season in 2013 with a 0-0 tie. UMass was outshot 20-13 in the contest and by a 13-3 margin in the first half. The Minutemen were the aggressors in the two overtime sessions, booting five attempts to two.
Evansville holds a 11-6-3 record this season going 4-3-1 in Missouri Valley play. The Purple Aces come into the match after a 3:2 overtime win against Bowling Green on Saturday to claim the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
