CINCINNATI, Ohio - The IUPUI men's soccer team will look to build on a strong defensive start to the year when the Jaguars square off with Xavier on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. on FloFC. The Jags played reigning Mid-American Conference champion Bowling Green to a scoreless draw on Thursday night and will make a second straight trip to Ohio to start the 2021 campaign. 

IUPUI (0-0-1) was outshot by a 24-4 margin, but got an eight combined saves from Quinn McCallion and Lucas Morefield in the season opening shutout. Fifth-year senior Tommy Patacca turned in a game saving stop of his own in overtime, clearing an attempt off the back line to preserve the shutout. Patacca and Corey Goede played all 110 minutes in the back third while Gianni Catenacci played 108 of the 110 minutes at an outside back spot. Tyler Gainer provided valuable minutes off the bench in the second half and head coach Brian Barnett also turned to Caleb Hussain and Ethan Miller for defensive minutes late in the contest. McCallion was credited with the result and made five saves in 59 minutes before going to the sidelines with an apparent injury. Morefield turned in three saves in relief. 

Offensively, IUPUI built opportunities late in both halves including a near score from Patacca at the end of the first half. Late in regulation, Anthony Saporito and Tylin Broaders had shot attempts go awry after the attack drove deep in BGSU territory. 

QUOTABLE
"Opening the regular season with a shutout was a great result for our squad. We hold our defensive organization to a high importance so it was rewarding to see it executed in the run of play. This team is motivated and always willing to compete," said fifth-year senior and Ohio-native Tommy Patacca following Sunday's draw at Bowling Green. 

PRESEASON POLLS
IUPUI was picked to finish 11th in the Horizon League according to the preseason poll released on Tuesday (Aug. 24): Read More

PROBABLE XI (based on the last outing)
GK- Quinn McCallion, Sr.
D- Gianni Catenacci, 5th
D- Ethan Diedel, Sr.
D- Corey Goede, Sr.
D- Tommy Patacca, 5th
MF- Logan Finnegan, Soph.
MF- Cameron Haegele, 5th
MF- Luke Liljegren, Jr. 
MF- Anthony Saporito, Sr.
MF- Chris Workman, Jr.
F- Riley Shives, Sr.

SCOUTING THE JAGS
IUPUI is 0-0-1 to start the year with an impressive road draw at Bowling Green. McCallion and Morefield combined to collect the shutout while Broaders, Finnegan, Patacca and Saporito paced the IUPUI attack in shot attempts. Goede and Patacca lead the IUPUI field players, having each played 110 minutes. 

SCOUTING XAVIER
Xavier went 0-1-2 in preseason play with draws with Wright State and Akron and a 4-2 road loss at Bowling Green. The Musketeers went 3-7-1 last season, despite outscoring opponents by a 20-17 margin. The Musketeers return their top scorers from last season in Karsen Henderlong (7 goals, 2 assists), Felix Boe-Tangen (3 goals, 2 assists), Bryce Curran (3 goals, 2 assists) and Jerome Jolly (1 goal, 6 assists). In goal, Matthew Rosenberg also returns after posting a 1.62 goals against average and 21 saves last season. 

ALL-TIME SERIES
IUPUI is 0-5-1 all-time against Xavier and has lost four straight in the series. The last meeting was a 1-0 loss on Sept. 24, 2019 at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium. The Jags are 0-2 in two trips to Cincinnati. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will return to action on Sept. 3 when the Jaguars face Western Illinois on Friday, Sept. 3 in Macomb.