Evansville will host the MVC Championship on Saturday at 6 PM
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Entering the MVC Tournament with the number one seed for the first time in program history, the University of Evansville men’s soccer team flexed their muscles on Wednesday night, besting fifth-seeded UIC 4-1 at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
MVC Freshman of the Year Andres Escudero (San Sebastián de los Reyes, Spain/IES Joan Miro) notched his fourth brace of the season, scoring the Aces’ first and fourth goals. Devin Shepherd (Denver, Colo./Arapahoe) and Nate Roberts (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman) added goals to mark Evansville’s highest scoring output of the season.
Evansville jumped on the Flames immediately, with Pablo Calvete (Ponferrada, Spain/UNIR) taking the ball away from a UIC player and using some nifty dribbling to send a through ball to Escudero. From there, Evansville’s star freshman used his speed to get behind the defense and sneak a right-footed shot past the UIC keeper and inside the far post to net his 10th goal of the season.
The Purple Aces kept the pressure on, as Escudero nearly found another goal less than two minutes later, beginning a barrage of six shots in the next 20 minutes of play. The Aces broke through in the 25th minute on a wild sequence, with Escudero and Tancredi Fadda (Monza, Italy/University of Milan) tallying shots before Shepherd came up with possession. From just inside the right side of the box, Sheperd struck, hitting the crossbar and finding the back of the net for his fifth goal of the year, making it 2-0.
The Evansville offense kept humming in the first half, finding another scoring chance in the 35th minute off an errant pass from the UIC keeper. Armon Haghighat (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley CC) corralled the ball before passing to Roberts, who gave the ball to Ben Zec (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) at the top of the box. Zec gave the ball right back to Roberts, who slid a shot past the keeper for his second goal in the last three matches and increasing the lead to three.
In the final minute of the half, UIC earned a penalty, and although the penalty shot was saved by Evansville keeper Michal Mroz (Elk Grove, Ill./Elk Grove), the Flames’ Edouard Nys collected his shot and tapped the ball in to make it 3-1 heading into half.
Evansville put a cherry on top of the night in the 66th minute of play, finding their fourth goal of the evening. Nacho Diaz-Caneja (Coruña, Spain/Oregon State) started the attack, putting a beautiful pass into the box for Shepherd. Although Shepherd’s shot was saved, Escudero collected the deflection right in front of the goal for a tap-in, securing the brace.
On the night, Evansville out-shot UIC 20-9, including a 12-4 advantage in shots on goal. Escudero and Shepherd each tallied five shots on the night, with Escudero putting four on target and Shepherd adding three. Mroz made three saves for the Aces.
“It was a great performance,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver. “The message this week has been “prove it”. I don’t think many people believed in this team before the season started, except the guys in the locker room. All year we have proven that we can be very good, and I said tonight you have to go prove it again, and I think that’s what our guys did.”
“I think they really have an understanding of what it means to wear Evansville across their chest and what they represent, who they represent, and the people that have come before them that have set the standard.”
“There have been meaningful soccer games in Evansville in November on our campus, and we wanted to get back to that. For us to have that tonight, with probably our best performance of the year, that was really special. Now it’s prove it again on Saturday, with even more people in the stands, because we are going to need another big crowd to win an MVC title!”
With the win, Evansville moves to 7-4-8 overall and advances to the MVC Championship game for the fourth time in the last five years, taking on sixth-seeded Western Michigan. Kick-off for Saturday’s MVC Championship at Arad McCutchan Stadium is set for 6 PM.
