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INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI men's soccer team will play a pivotal early season league match on Saturday night (Sept. 15) when the Jaguars face UIC at 7:00 p.m. Central (8 Eastern) at Flames Field. That match will be broadcast on ESPN+. IUPUI and UIC were among the four teams to win their league openers last weekend as the Jaguars picked off Detroit and the Flames went on the road and routed Oakland, 4-1. 

The Jaguars (1-2-2) are unbeaten in their past three matches as they sandwiched draws with Evansville and Eastern Illinois around the 1-0 win over Detroit. This comes on the heels of an 0-15-2 campaign in which IUPUI got only two results in the entire season. 

Defense has continued to be IUPUI's calling card as freshman goalkeeper Quinn McCallion is working on back-to-back shutouts and dropped his goals against average to 0.71 with the recent double overtime draw with EIU. McCallion was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week last week and has stopped nearly 88 percent of opponents' shots on goal in the season's first five games. 

Sophomore back Tommy Patacca has two of the team's three goals while junior midfielder Pedro Valladao netted the game-winner against Detroit. Freshman back Corey Goede has two assists and senior defender Sam Gavin has the team's only other assist. Head coach Brian Barnett's defensive third has been stout, keyed by Patacca, Gavin, Nick Anderson and Rodrigo Zampieri. Anderson played all 110 minutes against EIU while Zampieri has been a force since missing the opener due to injury. 

Barnett hasn't been shy about shuffling bodies in the season's early going as 18 different Jaguars have started at least one game already. Against EIU on Wednesday, 21 different Jags saw the field as Barnett tried to limit players' minutes. 

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JAGS MAKING AN IMPACT: Last spring, the IUPUI men's soccer team signed Fishers-native Tyler Harris to a letter of intent to join the program through a partnership with Team IMPACT. Harris, an 11-year old battling cystic fibrosis, was on the sidelines for his first game when the Jaguars hosted Bradley earlier this season. Harris has already had a profound impact on the Jaguars' program as members of the team have also visiting the sixth-grader at home and have plans to support him at upcoming cross country meets and other events.

QUOTABLE: "We've focused a lot of our efforts on understanding what our roles and definition is on the defensive side of the ball. The team's defensive mentality right now is fantastic. We just need to be a little bit better when we go forward with the ball," Barnett said.

SCOUTING UIC: UIC is 5-1 on the season with three shutouts. The Flames have outscored their opponents by a 13-5 margin and outshot their opponents by seven shots per game. Max Todd has six goals for the Flames while Jesus Perez has seven assists and Oscar Gonzalez has a goal and four assists. In goal, Sawyer Jackman has played every minute and registered a 0.83 goals against average and .750 save percentage. 

INSIDE THE SERIES: IUPUI is 0-1-1 all-time against UIC following last year's 4-2 loss in Indianapolis. The game was tied at 1-1 at the half before UIC scored goals in the 49th and 54th minutes to take a 3-1 lead. The Jaguars pulled within one in the 61st minute, but the Flames answered with a score of their own 18 seconds later to cap the scoring. Uriel Macias and Jared O'Dell scored goals for the Jaguars. 

NEXT UP: IUPUI will trek to Western Illinois for a non-conference game on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 4:00 p.m. Central (5 Eastern) in Macomb, Ill.