The fifth-seeded University of Southern Indiana women’s soccer team battled fourth-seeded Bellarmine University to a 0-0 double-overtime tie in the first round of the GLVC Tournament, but failed to advance on penalty kicks, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky. USI finishes the year 8-5-5 overall, while Bellarmine advanced to the GLVC semifinals with a 7-3-6 mark.

For the third-straight match between the Eagles and the Knights, USI and Bellarmine battled to a scoreless draw after 110 minutes. It also was the fourth draw in the last five matches between the two programs.

USI seemed to have the momentum in regulation time and the two overtimes, outshooting Bellarmine, 14-8. The Eagles also had a 6-3 advantage in shots on-goal.

After the 110^th minutes, Bellarmine won the right to advance by converting five of six penalty kicks. USI freshman defender Madelyne Juenger (Columbia, Illinois) got the Eagles off to a 1-0 start after the first round before the Knights moved ahead by converting four of the next five rounds of penalty kicks to move on in the tournament.

Between the posts, USI junior goalkeeper Emily Hopkins (Greenfield, Indiana) posted her fifth tie and a career-high seventh shutout of the season. Hopkins, who finished the year with a career-best 0.91 goals against average, made three saves after facing eight shots in the match.

University of Southern Indiana sophomore defender Drew Albert (Eureka, Missouri) scored the game-winner 1:14 into the second overtime to lead the Screaming Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Maryville University in the first round of the GLVC Tournament Sunday afternoon in St. Louis, Missouri. The Screaming Eagles, the seventh seed, rises to 11-6-0 overall, while Maryville sees its record go to12-3-2.

With the win, USI advances to the GLVC Tournament semi-finals for the second-straight season and will play third-seeded Lewis University Friday at Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. (CDT). Follow the live coverage of USI Men’s Soccer in the post-season, including live stats and video, on GoUSIEagles.com.

Albert headed in the game-winning goal off a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Adam Becker(Columbia, Illinois) at 101:14 of the second overtime. The goal was Albert’s third of the year and his first game-winning goal of 2017.

Maryville had the early advantage, scoring 32:11 of the first half. The Saints would hold the 1-0 advantage through the intermission.

USI got the equalizer at 57:38 when sophomore defender Justin Raines (Bartlett, Tennessee) headed in a pass from senior midfielder Riley Belding (Columbus, Indiana). The goals was Raines’ fifth of the season, tying him for second on the team.

Mildrelis Rodriguez finishes with 14 kills

 Mildrelis Rodriguez led all players with 14 kills to lead the University of Evansville volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep against MVC rival Southern Illinois inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

Rodriguez tallied her 14 kills in 37 attempts and also registered 8 digs.  Cathy Schreiber also had a great night for UE (10-14, 4-8 MVC) as she totaled 11 kills.  Cassie Brooks led the way with 20 digs and Allana McInnis notched 17 assists, 8 digs and two service aces.  Brooks also notched two aces.

The sweep was the first for the Purple Aces in a conference match since defeating Bradley by a 3-0 final on Oct. 3, 2014 in a home match.

Southern Illinois (5-18, 4-8 MVC) saw Patience Brown and Maggie Nedoma post seven kills apiece.

Adeline Payne had a solo block in the early going as the Purple Aces scored the opening two points of the night.  Southern Illinois quickly came back to tie it at 4-4 before taking their first lead at 7-6.  SIU widened its lead to 9-6 before an Allana McInnis service ace got UE within one at 10-9.  The Salukis had the answer once again and stretched their lead out to 24-19.

That is when things got interesting.  Mildrelis Rodriguez took over and notched three kills in a run that saw the Aces tie it up at 24-24.  The back-and-forth action continued before UE put the finishing touches on the set.  With the score tied at 28-28, Taylor Jones notched a service ace before Cathy Schreiber and Rachel Tam had a block to give UE the win.

Riding the momentum they gained from the exciting opening set win, UE scored the first three points of the game and continued to lead at 6-4 as Rocio Fortuny had three early kills.  The Salukis made their way back, taking their first edge of the frame at 8-7.  They would hold the lead until UE went up 16-15 as Fortuny posted another kill.

SIU took its turn, reeling off the next four to take a 19-16 lead before it reached four at 21-17.  UE rallied as another pivotal McInnis ace tied the score up at 23-23.  The run continued with Rodriguez finishing it off with her 12^th kill of the evening as UE took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-23 win.

UE had a strong start to game three, taking a 7-2 lead.  Later, Rachel Tam ace pushed the lead to six at 11-5.  Evansville’s lead continued to grow as two more aces, both by Cassie Brooks, made it a 19-11 game.  The Aces put the icing on the cake, running away to a 25-13 win to earn their first MVC match sweep in three years.

Evansville returns to the road next weekend for a swing through the state of Iowa.  A match at UNI begins the weekend on Friday before the Aces head to Des Moines to take on Drake.  Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

Despite a flurry of chances late, the University of Evansville men’s soccer team was unable to find an equalizer as the Aces fell to Drake, 1-0, on Saturday evening at Arad McCutchan Stadium.

“It’s a cruel game, the sport of soccer. They had one shot in the second half and they scored. We had two off the post, three or four saved off the line and missed a penalty kick,” said Aces men’s soccer head coach Marshall Ray. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort or a lack of ability to create chances we just didn’t finish the chances we got. We were a bit unlucky and they finished the one chance they had. I have to give them credit and Caden (McCullough) had a great game this evening in goal for them.

Senior midfielders Ian McGrath and Arlick Ntabana led the Aces with three shots each. In goal, senior Matthew Keller made a pair of saves, allowing one goal. For the Bulldogs, Alex Peterson scored the lone goal in the match, while Antonio Sanchez and Leroy Enzugusi each had a pair of shots.

The first half passed without much event as the two sides combined for just five goals in the opening half.

Evansville looked poised to find its breakthrough in the 68th minute as the Aces fired three shots on-goal that were either blocked or saved.

In the 80th minute, Drake scored after a scrum in the box as the ball fell to the feet of Peterson, who finished it into the back of the net. The Aces had a pair of chances to equalize in the final five minutes. After a foul in the box, McGrath stepped to the spot for a penalty kick that was saved by Bulldog goalkeeper Caden McCullough.

With the clock ticking under 10 seconds, freshman Filip Johansson took one final shot from just inside the box that curled towards goal and just glanced off the post and out as the horn sounded.

In the match, Evansville out-shot Drake, 14-6, while the Bulldogs held a 4-2 advantage on corner kicks.

The Aces wrap-up a three-match homestand on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Northern Kentucky as Evansville hosts its Senior Night as well as Trick-or-Treat with the Aces.