Southern Indiana (Aug. 24 - 8pm): ESPN+ I Live Stats
at Notre Dame (Aug. 27 - 7pm): ACCNX I Live Stats

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI men's soccer team will officially open its 2023 campaign on Thursday night (Aug. 24) when the Jaguars host Southern Indiana at the on-campus Michael A. Carroll Stadium at 8:00 p.m. The kickoff time was moved back two hours for player safety with extreme heat all throughout the Midwest. The Jaguars will cap the week at Notre Dame on Sunday night (Aug. 27), kicking off against the Fighting Irish at 7:00 p.m.

IUPUI, which was recently picked to finish second in the #HLMSOC Preseason Polls, went 1-1-1 in the preseason with a win over Evansville, a draw with Marian and a road loss at Northwestern. Redshirt sophomore Josemir Gomez led the attack with two goals, both coming in the 2-1 win over Evansville, and Logan Finnegan and Emerson Nieto contributed one goal each. Graduate student Lucas Morefield earned the win against Evansville and firmly cemented himself as the Jaguars' No. 1 goalkeeper. 

Coming off a 9-goal season, Gomez, the reigning Horizon League Freshman of the Year, has earned considerable preseason hype, having been named among Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 players and as one of the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch list. Senior midfielder Lukas Hackaa had eight goals and nine assists last season and Finnegan scored six goals with four assists. Collectively, IUPUI scored a program-best 31 goals for first year head coach Sid van Druenen, with 27 of those scores returning to the team's 2023 roster. 

In the final preseason tune-up, van Druenen had two freshmen among his starters with Gijs Velings and Jago Thompson-Roberts both earning a nod. Nieto, an Indiana-transfer, was the third newcomer to be among the starting unit. 

SCOUTING SOUTHERN INDIANA: USI went 2-12-3 last season with wins over Eastern Illinois and St. Thomas. Nick Faddis is the team's top returning scorer, having tallied three goals and two assists last season. In addition, Alec Meissner returns in goal, having started 16 of the team's 17 games a season ago. 

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME: Notre Dame is coming off an 8-7-2 campaign and went 5-3-1 at home last season. The Fighting Irish played Saint Louis, Holy Cross and Butler in preseason play and will take on Indiana to open the season on Thursday. Senior Daniel Russo is the team's top returning scorer with six goals and four assists last season and Matthew Roou turned in four goals and four assists.