NASHVILLE, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Soccer could not stop Belmont University in the second half and lost, 3-0, Sunday evening in Nashville, Tennessee. The Screaming Eagles, who are in the middle of a five-match road swing to start 2024, is 0-2-0, while Belmont goes to 1-0-1.
 
The Eagles battled the Bruins to a scoreless draw during the first 45 minutes. Belmont had the upper hand with a 6-1 lead in shots and 2-0 advantage in corner kicks. USI’s lone shot that was blocked by the Belmont defense was taken by graduate midfielder Garland Hall (Evansville, Indiana) at 33:01.
 
Belmont dominated USI in the second half, posting three goals for the margin of victory by outshooting the Eagles, 9-1. The Bruins converted on all three of its shots on goal for the win. The Eagles got only one additional shot in the second half with junior forward Jackson Mitchell (Newburgh, Indiana) shooting wide.
 
Overall for the match, Belmont outshot USI, 15-2, and had the advantage in corner kicks, 6-1.
 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Evansville Otters dropped the final home game of 2024 to the Gateway Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon 7-3 at Bosse Field.

The Grizzlies (56-33) opened the scoring in the first inning with an unearned run. Answering in the home half of the frame, the Otters (41-50) dropped one on the board with a Delvin Zinn sacrifice fly to center field.

Taking the final lead of the game, Gateway pushed back ahead in the fourth innings with one run, before tacking on four more in the fifth and another run in the sixth.

Evansville answered in the seventh frame. Mendham drew a walk with two outs and two batters later, Pavin Parks hit an RBI single to center.

Moving to the ninth, the Otters finalized the scoring with a Mendham double. He scored again with a Giovanni DiGiacomo fielder’s choice RBI.

Gateway racked up a baker’s dozen hits to Evansville’s eight. Mendham went 3-for-3 at the dish, reaching base in all five plate appearances with two walks.

With the loss, Zach Smith (7-7) gave up six runs on seven hits. While he struck out seven, too much damage came in the fifth without recording an out before he was pulled. Collin Sullivan (9-5) took the win in five innings of one-run ball.

While the home season is over, the Otters still have five more games to go. The club has tomorrow off before opening a new series in Chicago against the Schaumburg Boomers on Tuesday. The first pitch is at 6:30 pm. CT. Coverage is available on the Otters Digital Network and FloBaseball.

RICHMOND, Ky. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer came up just short in the front end of its two-game road swing Sunday afternoon, falling 1-0 at Eastern Kentucky University.
 
Southern Indiana (0-2-1) caught an unlucky break early on, as an Eastern Kentucky (1-3-0) shot near the penalty spot tipped off the glove of redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Anna Markland (Hoover, Alabama), off the post, and into the goal.
 
The Colonels, a high-volume shooting squad on Sunday, continued to pressure and challenge USI. The Screaming Eagles’ defense stood up to the challenge to keep the score a one-goal difference.
 
USI gained possession and flipped the field position into the attacking third in the 25^th minute. Senior midfielder Maggie Duggan (Defiance, Missouri) put up USI’s first shot of the game just before the hydration break, which was saved by EKU’s senior goalkeeper Marah Krick.
 
Later, the Screaming Eagles had another good opportunity when junior defender Brynn Quick (Cottage Grove, Minnesota) sent a free kick from near midfield that went straight toward the goal and forced the Colonel’s netminder to make a diving save. Following an impressive save on the other end by Markland deep into the first half, Quick had another free kick on target and saved. Sunday was the second consecutive match that Quick recorded two shots on goal.
 
Looking to build on its 1-0 halftime advantage, Eastern Kentucky continued its aggressive attack with many shots in the second half. USI’s defense continued to be stout by blocking several shots.
 
Markland and senior keeper Zoe Lintner (Wildwood, Missouri), who entered the match in the middle of the second half for the last 26-plus minutes, also continued to stand in the way of EKU’s attempts toward any insurance with multiple saves.
 
Despite the solid defensive effort to keep the Screaming Eagles within reach of the 1-0 difference, a breakthrough reward would not come for USI. Southern Indiana had another potential tying chance on a corner kick in the middle of the second half when a header by junior midfielder Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana) could not find an opening across the goal line.
 
Southern Indiana faced 22 shots on the defensive end from Eastern Kentucky but held the Colonels to eight shots on goal. USI finished with eight shots and four on target. Junior forward Payton Seymour (Louisville, Kentucky) tied Quick with a team-high two shot attempts in the match. The combination of Markland and Lintner between the posts totaled six saves, four and two, respectively.
 

The University of Evansville men’s soccer team hopes to build a road win streak on Sunday night at Memphis.

AUGUST 26

The Purple Aces renewed a 2000s non-conference series on Sunday night by returning to Memphis for the first time since 2011. UE and the Tigers regularly played one another from 2003 to 2007 after occasional matches in the late 1980s and mid-1990s. But the two programs have not seen each other in 13 years with Evansville returning to the Bluff City for the first time since 2007. The Aces currently hold a 6-3-2 series lead and won the most recent match-up 2-1 in overtime.

The Memphis Tigers come into Sunday evening’s match having dropped their season opener to the Lipscomb Bison 2-1. The Tigers fell behind early in their home opener against the Bison and were never quite able to get back within striking distance despite a goal in the 59th minute. Memphis was tabbed third in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll coming off one of its most successful seasons in program history. In 2023 the Tigers finished 11-6-2 on the year and earned a 2nd-consecutive at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Aces picked up their first season-opening win in five years on Thursday night in a 2-1 victory over the Bellarmine Knights. UE’s win on Thursday was also the program’s first season-opening win at a road location in 20 years. Evansville last opened the season with a true road win beating Wisconsin 2-1 on September 3rd, 2004.

Sophomore midfielder Baraka Tarleton picked up his first collegiate goal along with the first Aces goal of the season against Bellarmine. In the 58th minute, Tarleton followed up on a shot rebound from senior forward Edward Mendy that made it past Knight’s goalkeeper Tudor Iordan. UE’s game-winning goal came from senior forward Nacho Diaz Barragan just minutes after Bellarmine tied up the match. Graduate forward Sami Owusu (Denver / Dayton) dropped off the ball to junior defender Nacho Diaz-Caneja (Coruna Spain / Oregon State) near the left sideline, and his cross found the head of Diaz Barragan near the back post for the go-ahead goal.