EVANSVILLE – Things went from good to great in a matter of 11 minutes on Sunday afternoon for the University of Evansville men's soccer team as the Purple Aces found the back of the net three times early in the second half en route to a 3-1 victory over visiting Fort Wayne in the ProRehab Aces Soccer Classic at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
"I think we've been consistently getting better," UE head coach Marshall Ray said. "We have a lot of work to do and places where we can improve, but I'm pleased with how the guys have responded so far. We were a little tight at times in the match, and so we made some changes, and we came out strong in the second half. That lets me know that the team is listening, and we're all on the same page."
The Aces (3-2-1) and Mastodons (3-3-0) played a largely even opening 45 minutes with each team firing off five shots, but the tide would change after the break, beginning with a 47
th minute strike from Jared Robinson, who headed home a deflected free kick from Zac Blaydes to pick up his career-best third goal of the season.
Just five minutes later, the Aces doubled the advantage after a pair of incisive passes through the midfield, concluding with Simon Waever playing a pass from the top of the 18-yard box out wide to a sprinting Ryan Koenig on the right flank, who would, in turn, find the head of an unmarked Caleb Williams in front of goal to make it 2-0.
"It was a great team build-up," Williams said of the goal, which was the first of his career. "Simon played it out wide to Ryan, and I kind of just picked my spot on where I thought it would come. He crossed a perfect ball to me, and it would've been pretty bad on my part to miss it. I was glad I was able to put it away."
Waever, who's speed proved difficult to handle for much of the tournament, put it to good use in the 58
th minute as the Danish freshman pounced on a Jesse Stafford Lacey pass from midfield, touching it around FW keeper Jorge Trujillo before calmly squeezing it inside the near post, giving the Aces a three-goal lead in a match for the first time this season.
"Jesse timed the pass perfectly," Waever explained. "I saw the goalkeeper coming off his line, and he was 100% going for the ball, and I thought if I could poke it past him, I'd have a chance to score."
"Simon has a lot of pace, and we really wanted to try to use him to stretch out their back line," Ray said. "He can be hard to deal with, and I don't know if there was anyone faster on the field today. He's pretty versatile too. He's still learning the college game, but he's technically clean and has a good footballing brain too. That's a good combination to have in a player."
The Mastodons reclaimed a score with a Thilo Korperich penalty in the 77
th, but it was too little, too late for the visitors out of the Summit League.
However, despite the 1-0-1 record for the weekend, UE would see its Aces Soccer Classic title hopes evaporate in the last minute of play in the day's second match as Portland scored a third goal against Bradley with 57 seconds remaining in the contest. Both teams finished with identical records for the weekend, but the 3-0 decision over the Braves meant the Pilots' goal differential was one better than UE's. It's a first-ever title in the event for UP, which had made three previous trips to Evansville to participate since 1992.
UP's Eddie Sanchez, whose volley in Friday's match landed on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 list, was named the offensive MVP of the tournament, and joining him from the Pilots on the all-tournament team we Lionel Mills, Matthew Coffey and Benji Michel. Waever, Williams and Koenig rounded out the UE members of the squad. FW's Korperich and Zach Tom as well as BU's Jacob Taylor and Logan Ketterer made up the rest of the team.
UE will return to action next weekend as Missouri Valley Conference play will begin at Bradley on Saturday.
NOTES: UE has scored at least once in all six matches this season. This year is the first time that's occurred since 2008 … UE is off to a 3-2-1 start, which is the best since 2013 … The Aces hold a 37-16-4 all-time record in the Aces Soccer Classic … Bradley is 5-4-1, Portland is 3-3-1, and Fort Wayne is 2-2-0 in the event … UE has won the tournament nine times … The last UE title came in 2013 … The Aces are 1-1-0 all time against Fort Wayne, and 42-59-6 against teams from Indiana.
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