Boxscore

Mike Luttrull's fresh legs paid off at just the right time for the University of Evansville soccer team Wednesday night at Black Beauty Field. On the bench for the first 17 minutes of the second half, Luttrull outran two defenders up the middle and then beat Eastern Illinois goalkeeper Sean Molony to score the game-winner with less than five minutes remaining in regulation as UE improved to 8-3-0 overall and 2-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference with the 2-1 win. Eastern Illinois is now 4-4-2, and 1-2-0 in the league.

Our goal is to have Mike fresh and sharp so he can finish games," said UE coach Mike Jacobs. "When he came on, his battery was recharged. Mike's the kind of player who, if you give him one scoring chance, he's going to punish you."

The Panthers struck first, at 39:15 when Evan Philpott found space following an Alex Harrison throw-in, and blasted a shot past Evansville goalkeeper Phil Boerger from 12 yards away. The Aces tied the match at 58:44 when Justin Sass scored his second goal of the season from eight yards out on assists from Blake Schneider and Richard Menjivar following a corner kick. It was Menjivar who set up the winning tally, also. He fed a pass near midfield to Luttrull, who outraced two defenders and then got to the left of Molony to score the Aces' second goal. It was the fifth goal of the season for the junior forward from Avon, Indiana, tying him for the team lead with Tad Kreamalmeyer.

Evansville had a 19-15 advantage in shots, although Eastern put seven on goal compared to four by Evansville. Boerger made six saves. The victory gave UE a sweep of the season series against Eastern Illinois. Evansville won 2-0 at Charleston last week.

It's back on the road for Evansville, with MVC matches at Drake Saturday and Bradley next Wednesday. Four of the Aces' first five league contests this season are on the road.