The first 15 minutes belonged to the Hoosiers, but the final 75 minutes were dominated by the Aces in the University of Evansville's narrow 3-2 men's soccer loss at Indiana University on Sunday. Coach Mike Jacobs' squad has a little over two weeks of training left in the spring season, which ends with a pair of friendlies on April 18 against the University of Dayton and University of Kentucky at Lexington, Ky.

Sunday's match was moved indoors to IU's Mellencamp Pavilion because of cold and rainy conditions, and the Hoosiers took advantage by scoring three early goals. UE made it 3-1 in the 49th minute on Richard Menjivar's goal, with assists from Kieran Purcell and Reggie Edu. Then in the 51st minute, Blake Schneider cut Indiana's advantage to 3-2 on a free kick. Jarrett Robbins came within an eyelash of tying the match in the 85th minute when his header struck the crossbar. The Aces also had a goal by Tad Kreamalmeyer disallowed by offside. Evansville ended up outshooting the Hoosiers 12-11, including 8-4 in the second half.

"From the 30th minute on, I really think we were the better of the two teams," Jacobs said. "It's the first time since our coaching staff arrived four years ago that we dictated and carried a game against IU for such a long stretch of time. This group of players is really close, and I'm proud of the effort they've put forth this spring. We've lost by one goal to IU three times in a row now, so our guys are licking their chops in anticipation of going back up there in the fall."

Jacobs cited Edu and Menjivar in the midfield, and Kreamalmeyer and Mike Luttrull up front, as the men of the match against the Hoosiers, and referenced reserve goalkeeper Ben Dempsey filling in admirably for injured goalkeeper Phil Boerger, who sustained a hand injury last week.

Evansville produced its third straight winning season in 2008 under Coach Jacobs, made even more impressive by the fact that last season’s challenging schedule included three of the past four NCAA national champions. UE’s 20 returning players include All-Midwest Region selections Luttrull and Robby Lynch, and five others who joined Luttrull and Lynch in earning all-Missouri Valley Conference honors: Edu, Menjivar, Kreamalmeyer, Tom Irvin and Tyler Crawford.