WOMEN’S SOCCER HOSTS EVANGEL IN KCAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Avila women’s soccer program enters the quarterfinals of the 2024 KCAC Tournament on the heels of a five-game winning streak and outscoring its opponents 18-2 during the winning streak.

The Eagles finished the regular season 12-3-3 (9-2-2 KCAC), marking their highest single-season win total since the 2013 campaign.

Avila will host Evangel on Tuesday afternoon at The Z at 1 PM. Avila beat Evangel 2-0 in their only meeting during the regular season, 2-0, on September 18.

“This has been a great year for women’s soccer,” said Avila Athletic Director Shawn Summe. “We are looking forward to having a home match and hopefully making our way down to Wichita to compete for a championship. I’m looking forward to seeing Evangel, they’re a class organization and I’m looking forward to being as good of a host as possible.”

In her 2024 Season Preview, Avila’s seventh-year head coach, Katie LaForge was looking forward to her many different goal-scoring options up and down the roster: “We have a ton of people who can score. That’s exciting. And that is our job as coaches to see what that recipe looks like. It’s the hardest thing, I think, to figure out when it comes to our sport because offense is meant to be free-flowing. It’s more about getting a feel for each other. Preseason is important and chemistry is huge. You don’t want to limit them, you want them to be free when they play. It’s exciting, from an offensive side and it’s very comforting from the defensive side.”

LaForge’s preseason prediction came true as the Eagles had eight different players record two or more goals this season and six different players have two or more assists.

“Katie has created a staff around her who works really well together,” Summe noted. “They’re great role models four our team. They are very successful former soccer players themselves and a great role model for our women’s soccer players. That is exciting for me to see that type of mentorship happen and our student-athletes get that experience as a positive.”

In one of the program’s best regular seasons in the last decade, Avila finished second in the KCAC in goals scored (38) and third in goals allowed (19).

Avila goalkeeper Kenan Ebel had seven shutouts on the season and finished the regular season with a 1.06 GAA with 73 saves and was in goal for all seven of Avila’s shutouts.

Tickets for the KCAC Tournament Quarterfinals at Avila University must be purchased in advance. Tickets can be purchased HERE. No physical tickets will be sold on-site. Avila students will be admitted to the match free of charge and are encouraged to fill the student section for a Purple Out.

Avila and Evangel will kick off at 1 PM at The Z. The winner will advance to the semifinals at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita to face the winner of the York-Kansas Wesleyan match on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 PM.