Interim Head Coach Robbe Tarver earns first career win on Sunday
Freshman midfielder Jacopo Federizzi tallied his first collegiate goal to tie up Sunday’s game in the 38th minute, and it was all Purple Aces for the next 52. Along with his first tally, Federizzi assisted on Evansville’s second goal from junior midfielder Jose Vivas midway through the second half. The two midfielders led the team on offense with four shots each, combining for three shots on goal. Sealing the win for the Aces was forward Nacho Diaz Barragan, as he launched a header in the 77th minute on a cross from sophomore defender Nalu Wagner. Cal State Fullerton applied more pressure at the end of the match but starting senior goalkeeper Aidan Montoure made two of his five saves in the final 10 minutes.
“I think we definitely feel better than we did after Thursday,” Interim Head Coach Robbe Tarver said with a laugh following Sunday’s 3-1 victory. “Again, we went down 1-0 and had to respond. I think we showed our fight and our passion, and I think who we are as a team. The things that we speak about constantly, I think our guys showed that today. And that ability to respond, we talk a lot about event plus response equals outcome, and we responded super well today and got the outcome that we deserved.”
For the second game in a row, the Aces found themselves down early as the Titans scored in the 24th minute. It only took Evansville 14 minutes to respond with their first goal of the afternoon after being awarded a corner kick in the 37th minute. The initial kick landed wide left of the net, where Wagner chased it down for a cross that put the ball near the net. On the cross, freshman midfielder Baraka Tarleton headed the ball back to an open Federizzi, who buried it into the left corner of the net.
UE carried the momentum from its equalizer into the start of the second half, putting up a trio of shots in under ten seconds early in the 48th minute. After a tense few minutes in the Aces’ own end that resulted in a yellow card and two saves from Montoure, Evansville got the ball out into the offensive end. In the 65th minute, Fedrizzi was coming in hot on the right side and went for a shot that was redirected to the net by Vivas for UE’s first lead of the 2023 season. The Aces gave themselves a comfortable two-goal lead 12 minutes later as Wagner and Diaz Barragan connected for a header goal in the left corner.
