WOLVERINES HOST EVANSVILLE, FAU
Utah Valley University begins season No. 5 with a pair of home games beginning with Evansville on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. MT. The Wolverines will also host Florida Atlantic on Monday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. MT. Both games will air live on the WAC Digital Network.

"It's always exciting to open at home against great opponents in front of our 12th Wolverines on Clyde Field," UVU head coach Greg Maas said. "Preseason has been focused and productive, we feature 13 new players, and a strong core of returners that are ready to put their stamp on our program. This team is determined and purposeful, with a relentless commitment to one another."



WAC MATES OPENING AT CLYDE
Utah Valley's Western Athletic Conference neighbors down I-15, UNLV, will also be a part of the opening weekend at Clyde Field. The Rebels will face off against Florida Atlantic on Friday at 4 p.m. MT before wrapping up the weekend on Sunday at 11 a.m. with Evansville. 

SERIES HISTORY
While FAU and UVU have not met on the pitch, Utah Valley has faced Evansville once before. The Wolverines won that match, 4-2, on Sept. 2, 2016 in a game played at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. 

SEASON-OPENER SUCCESS
Utah Valley enters the 2018 season having won each of its first four season openers, winning three of those at home. The Wolverines are also 4-0 in home-openers all-time. The last two seasons have seen Utah Valley notch wins over ranked opponents. The Wolverines beat No. 20 Washington, 2-1, to begin the 2016 season and then No. 13 Akron, 1-0, a season ago. 

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The 2018 UVU roster has 14 freshmen on its roster, the most since the inaugural season in 2014 when 24 freshmen were on the squad. Of the 14, 11 are true freshmen while the three others (Paytin Ayau, Leo Fuchs, and Conner Dearden) redshirted in 2017.  There are also eight seniors, six juniors and three sophomores on the squad. Last year, Utah Valley bid adieu to its first batch of four-year seniors with eight Wolverines finishing up their careers. 

ABOUT EVANSVILLE
Evansville, out of the Missouri Valley Conference, is coming off of an 11-8-2 campaign in 2017, including an 8-4-1 mark in league play. The Purple Aces lost top scorer Ian McGrath (12 goals, 5 assists) to graduation but return sophomore Adam Snow, who finished with five goals as a freshman. The two combined to score half of the team's 34 goals in 2017. 

ABOUT FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Florida Atlantic finished 2-14-0 in 2017 behind first-year head coach Joey Worthen, who enters his second season this year. The Owls' roster features 14 freshmen and just two seniors with 13 of their players from outside the United States. FAU is the first team from Conference USA that Utah Valley has ever matched up against. 

UP NEXT
The Wolverines will play their next four matches away from Clyde Field starting with a two-game trip to Southern California next weekend. UVU will be at UC Irvine on Friday, Aug. 31 and at CSUN on Sunday, Sept. 2.