Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Tasked with battling back from a goal down in the final 20 minutes, the University of Evansville men's soccer team earned a 2-2 double-overtime draw with Butler in a non-conference contest on Tuesday evening at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
"It was a little back-and-forth for sure. Tonight we had our chances early, I thought. The keeper made some great saves and we missed some opportunities," said Aces men's soccer head coach Marshall Ray. "Again, we found a way to hold on and get a result. We've been talking about it. We need to find that consistency as a group and one thing I can say is we fought back, we got the second goal, we held on for a tie against a good Big East team that was the 2017 Big East champions. We've got to regroup and now focus on Central Arkansas and get some points on the road."
Out of the gate, the Purple Aces found their stride in the attacking third. Inside the first two minutes of the match, freshman Davis Peck put a shot on-goal that was saved by the Bulldogs. Evansville continued to push, out-shooting the Bulldogs, 5-0, in the opening 20 minutes of the match. The Aces scored their first goal of the evening in the 36th minute as freshman Logan Muck put a shot on-goal that was saved and rebounded to fellow freshman Mathias Nors, who found the back of the net. Following the goal, the Bulldogs tallied their first shot of the match in the 40th minute, which junior Frederik Reimer stopped as UE went to the half with a 9-2 advantage on shots
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Box Score (PDF)
To open the second half, Butler responded with a pair of shots on-goal, but Reimer saved both Bulldog scoring opportunities. The hill became tougher to climb for Butler in the 63rd minute as the Bulldogs had a player sent off with a red card. Just 89 seconds after the red card, Butler equalized the match on a goal by Jared Timmer off an assist by Derek Sutton. Seconds shy of the 70-minute mark, the Bulldogs were awarded a penalty kick, which Timmer finished for his second goal of the evening. After junior Jesse Stafford-Lacey had a shot on-goal deflected away by the Bulldogs, Evansville received a corner kick, which Stafford-Lacey played to sophomore Filip Johansson. Gathering the ball, Johansson sent a shot towards goal that freshman Ryan Harris deflected into goal to tie the match at two. Over the final 10 minutes of regulation, the Aces had two shots saved, while the Bulldogs had a shot blocked in the last seconds as the match headed to overtime.
In the first overtime period, just four total shots were recorded with none coming on-frame. The 94th minute featured a shot by senior Eric McDougal who's shot inside the box went wide. With just over a minute left, the Bulldogs' Timmer looked for his third goal of the match, but his shot was blocked as the contest moved into the second overtime.
The second overtime was starkly different from the first overtime as both teams had their opportunities to end the match. Each side had four shots in the second overtime period with five coming on-goal. Following a Butler scoring chance, Evansville answered with a shot from Peck. Finding the ball after a through ball was played to him, Peck ran free and let loose a shot just inside the 18-yard box that Butler goalkeeper Ryan Clark came out and stopped. It was not the only shot on-goal from Peck in the frame as the freshman had another shot saved in the 106th minute. With just 15 seconds left in the match, the Bulldogs managed a last opportunity as the Aces recorded a team save, preserving the 2-2 draw for Evansville.
A pair of freshman in Nors and Harris each scored their first collegiate goals in the tie with Harris leading all Aces with five total shots. Harris also tied for the team-high in shots on-goal with Peck as each put three shots on target. Between the posts, Reimer made five saves, helping Evansville earn the 2-2 draw, allowing a pair of goals in the match.
The Aces' 20 shots in the match was the second-highest total of the season, just behind the 23 shots Evansville recorded against IUPUI on September 2.
For the first time since September 16, the Aces head on the road to face MVC opponent Central Arkansas on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Conway, Ark..
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