INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI men's soccer team put a capper on the 2016 preseason with a 1-0 loss to Evansville on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 20), yielding the game's lone goal in the 51st minute. UE's Ian McGrath put home a rebound of his own miss to account for the lone goal of the day and the only score allowed by the Jaguars in 180 exhibition minutes.

"From the result, it's obviously disappointing. In preseason, it's important to maintain perspective as a team and as a program," IUPUI Head Coach Brian Barnett said. "There's definitely some organizational pieces with our back four in terms of dealing with and reading balls that go over our back line a lot earlier so that we're getting into that space behind us and not dealing with so much over the top."

After a rather bland opening 45 minutes saw the two sides combine on just nine shots and two on target, the start of the second half saw both teams open the throttle in an effort to get the game's first goal. Evansville finally broke through when McGrath got free on a breakaway, thanks to a big ball over the top of the Jags' backs. Redshirt freshman James Mitchison made a highlight reel stop of McGrath's initial attempt, but the UE attacker was able to get to the carom and score into an empty net from just inside the 18.

IUPUI had chances in the second half, but was unable to break the ice for the second straight outing.

Sophomore back Nick Anderson had a long carry result in a great opportunity in the 60th minute, but had his attempt pushed just wide of the right post. On the ensuing corner kick, Joshua Ayala had an attempt from straight away denied by UE reserve goalie Frederik Reimer.

IUPUI also had good looks from Trevor Semakula and Alan Aguilar after halftime, the first of which was saved and the second was knocked down by a defender before reaching the goal.

"It's just the finishing touches," Barnett said of his team's attacking. "(The guys need to have) the confidence to stick it in the back of the net. It doesn't matter where you are, but it's hitting the target and staying consistent with your ball striking and being composed on the final touch.

"There's no training session or functional movements you can do with the players that replicates the game. They just have to be confident with their technique in that moment and stick the chance. It's college soccer and (those chances) will be few and far between."

IUPUI was outshot 14-7 for the day, but was missing forward Pape Ndiaye due to an injury. All total, 19 different Jaguars saw game action on Saturday and nine underclassmen were in the starting 11. Mitchison made four saves in the second half while sophomore goalie Josh Gray remained unscored upon in the preseason and collected a first half save. 

The Jaguars will open the regular season on Friday, Sept. 26 when they face Bowling Green at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.