Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Opening the season on the road, the University of Evansville men's soccer team dropped a 3-0 match to No. 6 Louisville in the first of two exhibition contests for the Purple Aces on Saturday evening in Louisville, Ky.
"We got a chance to play everybody on our roster against a pretty good team; there's a reason they're ranked No. 6 in the nation," said Aces head men's soccer coach Marshall Ray. "To get some guys on the field that wouldn't necessarily play against them and do as well as we did up until the PK call that gave them a goal there, I think we played pretty well up until that point and I think we gave a lot of guys a lot of minutes. Overall, it wss a good preseason game. We accomplished some things we needed to accomplish and playing against teams like this is going to help us play against teams in our conference and it's going to help us play against Butler and IU at home."
Despite a few chances early on, Evansville was able to prevent the Cardinals from jumping on the scoreboard early in the match as junior Frederik Reimer was steady between the posts for the Aces. Following the opening 15 minutes, UE began to settle in and link passes together. In the final 20 minutes of the opening half, Louisville earned four corner kicks and put a shot on goal, but Reimer and the Aces were able to hold strong as the match went to the break scoreless.
Just six minutes into the second half, Louisville was awarded a penalty kick after a collision during a corner kick. The Cardinals' Kino Ryosuke stepped to the spot and converted, giving Louisville the 1-0 advantage. Two minutes later, Louisville added a second goal as Haji Abdikadir looped in a shot from 25 yards out that found goal.
Â
Box Score (PDF)
Sophomore Adam Snow fired a shot in the 72nd minute that was blocked. Following the shot, Louisville sprinted back the other way, finding its third goal of the evening. Less than two minutes later, Snow recorded his second shot of the night as he lifted a try just over the crossbar. Evansville preserved the margin throughout the final 15 minutes of the match as the Cardinals secured a 3-0 win.
Offensively, Snow's two shots led the way for the Aces on the evening. In goal, Reimer played the first 53 minutes of the match, allowing just one goal on the penalty kick and making a pair of saves. Greg Niven spent 37 minutes between the posts, making a save and allowing two goals.
It's a quick turnaround for the Aces as they return to action on Sunday as UE takes on Bellarmine in the final exhibition match for Evansville at 2:30 p.m. at Arad McCutchan Stadium. Sunday's match is the Aces' "Welcome Back" game and "All Aboard Game #1". UE welcomes back students and invites area school children to attend Sunday's men's and women's soccer doubleheader who can enjoy giveaways, a free bounce house, and Pro Kick inflatable soccer game.
- INFO: For all of the latest information on University of Evansville athletics, visit GoPurpleAces.com or follow the program on Twitter via @UEAthletics.
                                  Â
- DONATE: For information on giving to UE Athletics or its individual athletics programs, visit the DONATE tab on the top of GoPurpleAces.com.
Â
- TICKETS: To purchase tickets for University of Evansville athletics events, log on to GoPurpleAces.com and click on the TICKETS tab on top of the page.
