Falling 1-0 against the University of Evansville Purple Aces, NIU men’s soccer (7-4-4, 2-1-3 MVC) earned its first Missouri Valley Conference loss Friday in Evansville, Indiana.
With the loss, the Huskies are now in a three-way tie for second place in the MVC alongside Drake University and Western Michigan University, while Evansville (6-3-8, 3-0-3 MVC) sits in first place.
The Huskies created ample opportunities, but were unable to find the back of the net, while a lone goal from Purple Aces redshirt junior midfielder Nate Rogers in the 58th minute was enough for Evansville.
The Huskies took 10 shots in each half, totaling 20, 10 of which were on target. NIU’s defense held Evansville to 9 shots, four of which were on goal.
Purple Aces sophomore goalkeeper Michal Mroz recorded a season-high 10 saves to keep the Huskies scoreless.
“I think we were trying to be maybe a little bit too clever with our finishes,” head coach Ryan Swan said. “We were either lashing away there or trying to put it away in the upper 90, so I was just kind of disappointed that we rushed our finishing a little too much, whereas their kid showed some nice composure around the goal.”
NIU freshman forward Vance Sheffield and redshirt sophomore defender Tomasz Slawek led the team with 3 shots each, one and two of which were on goal respectively. Midfielders sophomore Martin Montoya and redshirt sophomore Joe Hernandez followed with 2 shots on goal each.
Starting goalkeeper Atahan Arslan recorded 3 saves for the Huskies to keep the game within reach.
UP NEXT
The Huskies return home for the final match of the regular season at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex. The match will be streamed on All-Access and live stats will be updated on SIDEARM Sports.
“We know that it’s a huge game for Bowling Green as well,” Swan said. “They’ll be coming in fired up for that. We just need to refocus, we’re back at home and our destiny is still in our hands. We’re still in a good position, not where we want to be, but in a good position. A good, strong performance on Wednesday will still keep our season on track.”
