EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The University of Evansville men's soccer team dropped a road contest at SIUE, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon at Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Ill.

"I really want to thank SIUE for having us over and for their staff and grounds crew for doing a great job getting the field prepared," said Aces head men's soccer coach Marshall Ray. "It was great for us to be able to get this match in when we could to help us get prepared for conference play that's coming up next."

The Aces were faced with defending a strong Cougars attack early on as SIUE got on the board in the 11th minute on a goal by Vincent Jackson II off a deflection in the box with the assist credited to Mitchell Murphy. Just 40 seconds later, SIUE scored its second goal as Andres Delascio found the back of the net off an assist by Murphy again.

Evansville generated its best opportunity of the opening half in the 32nd minute as senior Filip Johansson received a ball over the top and found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Johansson clipped the ball to the keeper's right, but Larsen made the block. The ball then bounced back out to sophomore Nkosi Graham, whose shot was blocked.

The Aces first chance out of the break came in the 49th minute as junior Ryan Harris sent a shot that missed high. In the 72nd minute, SIUE earned. a penalty that Oskar Lenz capitalized on, giving the Cougars a three-goal lead.

Evansville nearly pulled a goal back in the 90th minute as junior Evan Dekker received the ball after it bounced around off a free kick and fired a shot to left side of goal that Larsen dove to save as the Cougars secured the 3-0 win.

""We didn't start with the right intensity, we gave up two goals early and were chasing the game for a better part of 70 minutes," said Ray on the match. "Credit to our guys, we were able to make a couple changes and the intensity picked up and we were able to keep possession of the ball and keep pressure on them."

Both teams generated a similar number of shots with SIUE recording nine and the Aces tallying six, but seven of the Cougars' nine shots came on goal, while three for Evansville came on frame.

Evansville will get 11 days away from competition before opening MVC play on March 4 on the road at Bradley in Peoria, Ill.
 

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