PEORIA, Ill. – The two goals scored by the University of Evansville men's soccer team on Saturday evening aren't likely to be found on many highlight reels, but that didn't seem to matter to head coach Marshall Ray as he saw his Purple Aces pick up a 2-0 conference-opening victory over Bradley at Shea Stadium.
"We knew coming into the match tonight that it was going to be a battle," Ray said. "Bradley is a team that likes to come out and scrap and fight for everything, and we had to be able to match that. I'm proud that they guys were able to come out and compete and get the result."
The win extended UE's unbeaten run to four consecutive matches as the Aces improved to 4-2-1 on the year and 1-0-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Bradley, meanwhile, dropped to 1-5-1.
After a relatively quiet first half, it was Jared Robinson who opened the scoring for the Aces in the 52
nd minute as he pounced on a scoring opportunity following a Jesse Stafford Lacey throw-in. It was a career-best fourth goal of the season for Robinson, and it also marked the fourth consecutive match that Stafford Lacey recorded an assist.
"I felt like we were really able to limit Bradley's chances, but we had to work on being able to keep the ball a little bit more when the second half started," Ray explained. "It helped us start to win the battle for field position, and we were able to begin taking advantage of some long throws. Jared's been very opportunistic for us this season, and he's been big for us."
UE doubled its advantage 17 minutes later when a Simon Waever cross was inadvertently headed by Bradley defender Emerson Clark into his own net.
"I think Ian had an opportunity to get on the end of that cross, but that goal goes to show what we tell the guys," Ray said. "When you put a ball like that in, we're either going to get on the end of it or they could put it in the net for us."
The final 20 minutes of the match saw the hosts start to apply pressure on the UE goal, but resolute defending from the Aces helped secure a third clean sheet this season, which ranks as the most for an Aces team since the 2013 campaign.
"You have to give credit to [Bradley coach] Jim DeRose because his teams are always going to fight," Ray said. "I didn't feel comfortable until that final whistle, but our ability to battle is starting to become an identity for this group. Chris Shuck and Trevor Baum are developing a great partnership, and Chris in particular is starting to realize the kind of player that he can be for us. It's nice to get another clean sheet, and hopefully we can continue to get more of those as we move forward with the rest of the season."
UE will take a brief reprieve from MVC season on Tuesday when the team sets out for Butler before picking back up with league play against Central Arkansas next Saturday at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
NOTES: UE is 10-16-1 all-time against Bradley … Saturday marked the first time the Aces have won consecutive matches since 2014 … It's also the first four-match unbeaten streak since UE won five in a row in 2013 … UE is 68-46-8 all-time against school from Illinois.
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