EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s soccer team secured the Mayor’s Cup for the third straight season on Saturday night, taking down USI 3-0 at Strassweg Field. All three Evansville goals were scored by freshmen, as Andres Escudero (San Sebastián de los Reyes, Spain IES Joan Miro) posted his first career brace and Chase Ricker (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva) scored his first collegiate goal.
Evansville’s attack was active early, as the Aces jumped on the Screaming Eagles with three goals in the first 23 minutes of play. In the fourth minute, Álvaro Timón (Toledo, Spain/Valencia International University) found Will Bencic (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) on the left wing, who put a beautiful cross into the box for Escudero. From there, the freshman snuck a shot past the USI keeper to give the Aces the lead.
Evansville struck again just over six minutes later on a scoring chance started by Matt Hawkins (Louisville, Ky./Male), who sent a long ball to Ricker for a one-on-one scoring chance. After making his way into the left side of the box, the freshman unleashed a laser of a shot over the keeper and into the back of the net for his first collegiate goal.
The scoring continued in the 23rd minute when the Aces drew a foul in the box to earn a penalty kick. Escudero stepped up to the spot and buried a shot, securing the brace and giving Evansville a 3-0 lead.
UE would continue to threaten throughout the remainder of the first half, putting up seven more shots, but the Aces were not able to add onto their lead. Michal Mroz (Elk Grove, Ill./Elk Grove) kept his clean sheet in-tact with a diving save just before halftime to help his team go into the break with a 3-0 lead.
Evansville did not let up in the second half, tallying 11 more shots. However, the Aces were kept off the board, while Mroz made two more saves to secure his first shutout and Evansville’s first win of the season.
“I thought the first half performance was really good,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver. “Obviously some great goals to start the game with Andres after a nice passing sequence and then Chase just hitting a banger. It was probably our most complete first half that we’ve had.”
“Obviously really happy about win number one. It’s hard to win, so we’re going to celebrate wins that we get, and now we need to use this to keep moving forward.”
Evansville matched a season-high with 24 shots, out-shooting USI 24-5, while the Aces’ 11 shots on goal marked a season-high. Timón tallied a game-high four shots, while Escudero, Martin Wurschmidt (Stavern, Norway/Thor Heyerdahl VGS) and Armon Haghighat (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley CC) each had two shots on goal.
With the win, Evansville moves to 1-2-4 on the season. The Aces will be back in action on Wednesday for a road test at Dayton. Kick-off is set for 6 PM CT.
