AKRON, OHIO - In the opening match of its preseason, the University of Evansville men's soccer team competed well in a 1-0 loss to third-ranked Akron on Sunday afternoon in Akron, Ohio.

The Aces recorded a pair of shots in the match, including a late opportunity by junior Nicolas Likulia that narrowly missed the post. Akron tallied 16 shots in the match, but just three came on-goal and only three shots were notched by the Zips in the second half.

"We're fortunate to be able to play a team that's made the last two College Cups," said Aces' head men's soccer coach Marshall Ray. "To hold them to two shots on-goal and one goal in that match and we played a lot of guys, all-in-all that's a good day for us."

Evansville defended well over the course of the first 30 minutes of the contest, keeping Akron out of the goal. In the 38th minute, Akron opened the scoring as Mani Austmann found the bottom right corner from inside the box off an assist from David Egbo. Evansville generates a chance late in the opening half as the ball fell to the feet of Luis Aranda whose shot was blocked and deflected out for a corner. Akron earned a free-kick with less than 15 seconds left in the first half to give the Zips one last chance in the half. From 22 yards out, the Zips try was punched away by redshirt-sophomore Matt Bryant who made a diving save to hold off Akron.

The second half was a different story as Evansville began to generate more chances. Evansville found its stride in the final 15 minutes as Likulia found the end of a corner by freshman Lucas Weir and headed it just wide of goal. Two more opportunities arose for the Aces in the last minutes of play as Evansville earned a free-kick from 30 yards out and a corner kick with seconds remaining to play.

The Aces play at Arad McCutchan Stadium for the first time this season with Evansville's second and final exhibition on Friday evening at 6 p.m. against Northwestern.