UE men’s soccer off to hot start to open 2022 season

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The 2021 season was one to forget for the University of Evansville men’s soccer program.

UE finished with an underwhelming 4-14-2 record after losing eight of its first nine matches.

However, the Purple Aces (2-0-2) have flipped the script as they are unbeaten through the first four games of the 2022 season. This includes the intense, scoreless draw with Southern Indiana in a crosstown matchup on Saturday night.

UE also tied with Bellarmine earlier in the year, while racking up wins over IUPUI and Incarnate Word.

Purple Aces’ head coach Marshall Ray says he believes the turnaround actually began near the end of this past season, finishing on a high note with a 3-2-1 record in their final six matches.

“We had a strong finish, and I think that momentum carried over into the spring, getting to the conference final last year and playing against a good Missouri State team with a young team,” Ray said. “We had a very productive spring, and I think we just continued that. Obviously, we added Nacho [Diaz] and Alex [Vidizzoni] in goal, and three or four other players we didn’t have in the spring, which helps with depth. I think up front we have a lot of weapons to use, a lot of different guys who can go at players. We can stretch the team. Maybe in the past, we were a little one-dimensional. It’s gonna be difficult for teams to just key on one player, which helps open up the field and if they’re keying on one, we can just go to another, so it makes it difficult to defend us.”

UE returns to action next weekend to host SIU Edwardsville on Sept. 17.

Kick-off is slated for 6 p.m.

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