AMHURST, Mass. — The University of Evansville men’s soccer team will play its first NCAA Tournament match since 1996 on Thursday afternoon.

The Purple Aces earned their first MVC Tournament title since 1996 on Saturday night in thrilling fashion. UE scored the first goal of the match but found themselves down a goal by halftime. Evansville found the equalizer in the 79th minute and scored the championship-winning goal in the 107th minute off a Bowling Green defender.

Fifth-year forward Kai Phillip (Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago) was named the MVP of the tournament for scoring two goals in three matches. Three other Aces were named to the MVC Tournament Team; defender Nacho Garcia, defender Martin Wurschmidt, and redshirt midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi who was also named to the All-MVC Second Team.

This will only be the second time in program history the Aces have played UMass and the first time on either home pitch. The two teams played in the Bradley Tournament to begin the 2013 season and tied 0-0 after one overtime. The Minutemen come into the match having bowed out of the A-10 quarterfinals against the eventual A-10 Champions, Saint Louis. The quarterfinal match ended in a 0-0 tie where the Billikens advanced on penalty kicks.

UMass has a 10-3-5 overall record and finished 5-2-1 in conference play. The Minutemen are led by three-time A-10 Offensive Player of the Year graduate forward Alec Hughes. Hughes has scored 14 goals in only 15 matches to be third in the country in goals per game.

After Evansville’s run in the MVC Tournament, TopDrawerSoccer ranked the Aces as the 23rd-best team in the nation. United Soccer Coaches does not release a weekly poll during tournament play but will release a final poll after the College Cup in mid-December. Heading into the first match of the tournament, UE has a 5-10 NCAA Tournament record. Evansville’s last win came during the program’s second Final Four run in 1990 with a 1-0 victory over Indiana.