The Purple Aces found the back of the net three times for only the third time this season
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s soccer team began a Missouri Valley Conference winning streak on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over the UIC Flames.
After a month away from Arad McCutchan Stadium and two weeks off from match action the Purple Aces didn’t skip a beat on Saturday. UE avenged its 5-1 loss from 2023 to UIC in a big way with a 3-1 win on their home field. Two different Evansville players scored for the Aces on Saturday while the team also benefited from an early own goal by the Flames en route to the victory.
“I thought in the first half UIC put us under a lot of pressure,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver following the win. “But we weren’t giving up too many good looks so the halftime talk was hey we’ve got to stick together to change this. And to come out right away and get the first punch with the goal from Nalu [Wagner] to Nacho [Diaz Barragan] was a great way to start the second half.
“I think the guys on the team and the staff are really the only people who know who Edward Mendy is. But he’s starting to show himself and he can add a different dimension to our team. And he had a great individual goal there to make it 3-1. We had a lot of fight to finish the game out. UIC is a good team, they caused some problems for us. But it was nice to protect our home field and create the chances we did in certain moments. We’re thrilled to be a winner tonight and win two in a row to head into next week.”
While the match began in the Flames’ favor with an early shot, it was UE who jumped out to the early lead. Evansville earned back-to-back corner kicks in the first 14 minutes and on the second attempt the ball found its way in the back of UIC’s net off a Flames player. The Aces kept UIC out of their offensive territory for most of the first half. But in the 31st minute on a clearing attempt, UE put the ball in their net making it a tie game at one.
The draw wouldn’t be broken in the first half despite strong efforts from both teams with four shots in the final 13 minutes. But Evansville quickly retook the lead at the start of the second half as senior forward Edward Mendy (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley West HS) passed around his defender at the corner of the box to junior defender Nalu Wagner (Leipzig, Germany) in the 48th minute. Wagner quickly crossed to the front of the six where senior forward Nacho Diaz Barragan (Almeria, Spain) headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
The Aces kept their offensive momentum going with another shot attempt only four minutes later. UE stayed in its attacking zone as Mendy found the ball again in the 61st minute. Alone on the right side, Mendy worked around two Flames defenders and buried his second goal of the year into the top left corner of the net from the seven.
Evansville only took one more shot in the second half, shifting its focus to defense with a two-goal lead. UIC peppered the Aces with shot attempts in the final 13 minutes of play. But UE’s defense stood tall with two blocked shots and five saves from freshman goalkeeper Michal Mroz (Elk Grove, Ill. / Elk Grove HS) to secure the 3-1 win.
Diaz Barragan led the way for Evansville on offense with three shots, all on target. Freshman defender Martin Wurschmidt (Fram, Norway) was the only other Ace with multiple shots recording two in 90 minutes of action. Mroz set a career-high in saves with eight against the Flames while only allowing the lone own goal.
UE will play its final non-conference game of 2024 on Wednesday evening. Evansville will travel to Louisville for a match with the Cardinals on Wednesday, October 16th. Kick-off from Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium is set for 6 p.m. CT.
