EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Evansville women's soccer team fell to Austin Peay, 2-0, in the Purple Aces regular season home-opener at Arad McCutchan Stadium on Sunday evening.
"We had some letdowns in the first half which obviously put us down 2-0 and it's tough to come back from 2-0 down," said Aces head women's soccer coach Krista McKendree.
UE controlled much of the opening minutes of the match, firing a pair of shots in the sixth and seventh minutes and earned two corner kicks, but could not convert. Austin Peay responded with an aggressive offensive attack, putting three shots on goal during a three-minute span ending in the 16th minute as aces' sophomore goalkeeper Michaela Till stopped all three Governor opportunities.
The Governors found their breakthrough in the 18th minute as Claire Larose made a long run and gained space between her and a defender and scored inside the 18-yard box.
19 minutes later in the 37th minute Austin Peay increased its advantage to two goals. McKenzie Dixon dribbled to the top of the 18 and let go a shot that slipped past the keeper and doubled the Governors' advantage.
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Box Score (PDF)
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Coming out of the half, the Aces looked to pull one back as Evansville earned a pair of corner kicks. In the 51st minute, freshman Alex Eyler found herself in favorable position and flipped a shot toward goal that just missed and ricocheted off the post and out. Late in the match, senior Molly Lear had a chance to pull the Aces back within a goal as her shot sailed just high of the crossbar as Austin Peay held on for 2-0 win.
Offensively, Lear finished with three shots on the evening to lead UE. Till led the way for Evansville between the posts, making eight of the Aces' nine saves, while junior defender Samantha Brown made a team save of her own midway through the second half.
"We have to have a quick erase button on our memory, we can't dwell on this game too long," said McKendree about the Aces' upcoming contest on Thursday. "We have to take away the positives , we have to learn a couple of things, and obviously be a little sharper when we come out on Thursday."
The Aces are back at Arad McCutchan Stadium on Thursday as Evansville hosts Western Kentucky at 7 p.m.. As part of its Rally Towel giveaway series, the Aces will be handing out the first towel in a series of four to fans attending Thursday's match.
