EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Drake women's soccer team visits the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday night at 6 p.m. for a key Missouri Valley Conference match.

Drake (5-8, 2-0 MVC) sits in first place in the conference standings with four contests remaining in the regular season. After the Saturday night showdown with the Purple Aces, the Bulldogs have home games with Loyola (Oct. 17) and UNI (Oct. 21) before closing the season at Missouri State (Oct. 24). The MVC Championship will be held Nov. 6-8 in Evansville with the quarterfinals on campus sites set for Nov. 1.

Earlier this week, Drake played its final regular season non-conference game at Oklahoma State as the Cowgirls earned a 3-0 win. However, the Bulldogs played without junior midfielder Rebecca Rodgers (Peotone, Ill.), the reigning MVC Offensive Player of the Week. Rodgers, who is tied with freshman Alyssa Brand (Skokie, Ill.) in goals scored with five, is expected back for the Evansville match. Brand finished with a game-high five shots along with one shot on goal against Oklahoma State.

Evansville (2-8-2, 0-1-1 MVC) opened MVC play with a scoreless tie against Loyola before dropping a 1-0 contest at UNI as the Panthers scored late to collect the win. Junior Bronwyn Boswell leads the Purple Aces with the three goals and two assists.

The all-time series between Drake and Evansville has been highly competitive as each team has won nine games and there have been zero ties. The Purple Aces knocked the Bulldogs out of the MVC Tournament in Normal, Ill. last season with a 2-0 win, and have won three straight in the series, as Drake looks to stop that streak.

Drake returns to Cownie Soccer Complex on Oct. 17 for a game against the Loyola Ramblers with first kick scheduled for 7 p.m.