UE men’s soccer heads to Butler for midweek match

The Purple Aces suffered their first loss of the season on Friday evening at Lindenwood. It was a late-game heart breaker for UE that jumped out to an early 2-0 lead as the Lions scored the game-winning goal in the final minute of the match on a penalty kick goal. Tuesday night’s game against Butler will be Evansville’s first since the 2019 season when the Aces lost to the Bulldogs 2-0 in Indianapolis. UE is looking for its first win against Butler since the 2013 season.

The Bulldogs come into Tuesday night’s match with a 2-1-2 record on the season. Butler is returning home after a close loss to fellow Missouri Valley Conference opponent Bowling Green after the Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second half. The Bulldogs weren’t able to make up the deficit late in the game, recording their first loss of the season. Butler is led by junior forward Josemir Gomez on offense with four goals, 15 shots, and seven shots on goal through five games in 2024.

After taking the second-most shots on the team through five games, senior midfielder Jose Vivas (Teurel, Spain) broke through with his first goal of the season on Friday night. Vivas had Evansville’s first goal at Lindenwood in the 9th minute, taking a shot from the top of the penalty box that sailed into the bottom left corner of the net for the score.

Despite the loss, the Aces still lead the Missouri Valley Conference in shots per game and shots on goal per game. UE is currently averaging 14.6 shots per game with 7 of those landing on goal. Evansville is 18th in the nation in shots on goal per game while 34th in shots per game.