Liberty Live Stats I Wright State Live Stats

INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI Head Men's Soccer Coach Isang Jacob will make his Jaguars' debut this weekend as his squad plays host to Liberty (Aug. 27) and Wright State (Aug. 29) at Kuntz Stadium. Saturday's match with Liberty will kickoff at noon while Monday's meeting with Wright State will start at 7:00 p.m..

Saturday's match holds special importance to Coach Jacob since he began his collegiate career on the Lynchburg, Va. campus before transferring to Indiana Wesleyan to continue his education. He and current Liberty Head Coach Jeff Alder were college teammates prior to Jacob's transfer.

IUPUI went 0-1 in the preseason, losing to reigning NCAA Division II national champion Northern Kentucky at Kuntz Stadium last weekend. The Jaguars squandered a handful of scoring chances in the second half of the defeat.

Offensively, the Jags bring back last year's top scorers in sophomore Jeff Keyler (5 goals, 3 assists), senior Perez Agaba (4 goals, 2 assists) and junior Ryan Robinson (3 goals, 3 game-winners). The offense was beefed up in the offseason with the additions of Indiana-transfer Ian Block and freshman Sam Fuller.

Defensively, Jacob's squad is keyed by backs Galen Cassady and Yogi Snider in the middle and outside back Kyle Hyland. In goal, senior Tyler Keever and junior Alex Mannen are vying for the starting job after both saw extended action a year ago. Keever made 13 starts, but Mannen was brilliant down the stretch as a fill-in going 5-0-1 in his six starts.

In the midfield, junior Joshio Sandoval started all 19 matches last season and will be joined by a group that includes Ian Munro, Tyler Thatcher and Tyler Fritcha.

On Saturday, Agaba will be recognized prior to kickoff for receiving last year's Michael A. Carroll Scholarship from the department. Since then, the Uganda-native has been awarded as The Summit League Scholar Athlete of the Year and is presently among 30 finalists for the 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.