DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Evansville men’s soccer team earned a strong road result on Wednesday evening, playing the Dayton Flyers to a 1-1 draw.
Evansville posted their second shutout in a row, with goalkeeper Michal Mroz (Elk Grove, Ill./Elk Grove) making a season-high five saves, including two highlight-worthy stops in the final ten minutes to preserve his second clean sheet of the year.
Despite neither side being able to put together a goal in the first half of play, Evansville controlled the pace of the game for much of the first period. Mroz made the lone save of the half in the second minute, while the Aces’ defense prevented the Flyers from putting another shot on goal for the remainder of the half. Andres Escudero (San Sebastián de los Reyes/Spain IES Joan Miro) had Evansville’s only shot of the half in the fourth minute, but the Aces could not find a goal as the score went into halftime at 0-0.
Despite a lack of scoring chances in the first half, the second half saw a plethora of opportunities for both the Aces and Flyers. Dayton began the half on the attack, tallying seven shots in the first 20 minutes of the half, but the Evansville defense held strong.
In the 70th minute, Chase Ricker (Albuquerque, N.M. La Cueva) saw Evansville’s best chance of the night to that point, as he was able to get a foot on a loose ball in the box. However, a great save from Dayton keeper Gavin Krenecki denied UE of the night’s first goal.
Another great scoring chance for the Aces came in the 76th minute off a dangerous corner kick from Ricker, but a header by Pablo Calvete (Ponferrada, Spain UNIR) went just wide of the post and the match remained scoreless.
Mroz made the first of two fantastic late-game saves in the 81st minute, leaping to get a fingertip on a Dayton header and lift it over the post to deny the Flyers. Tancredi Fadda (Monza, Italy/University of Milan) had the next near scoring chance for Evansville a minute and a half later, but his shot went wide of the post as the Aces just missed the winner. In the 89th minute, Mroz made another game-saving stop, diving to his right to make his fifth save of the night and help the Aces secure a road result.
“It’s a tough place to play,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver. “I thought in the first half, we kind of dictated the tempo a little bit, but in the second half, they came after us. We suffered a little bit, their pressure got to us, but to get a result on the road against a team that has been to two straight NCAA Tournaments, went to the Sweet Sixteen, hosted a Sweet Sixteen match here, I’m proud of the resiliency.”
“We had a couple chances of chances to snag a winner, so I’m proud of the effort that we put forth tonight and that we got a result on the road.”
With the tie, Evansville moves to 1-2-5 on the season. The Aces return to Arad McCutchan Stadium on Tuesday for their final tune-up before the start of conference play, hosting in-state rival Butler. Kick-off is set for 6 PM.
