Evansville won a shootout, 4-3, to advance past Missouri State in the opening round of the State Farm MVC Men’s Soccer Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The teams were tied 2-2 after 110 minutes of action before the decisive shootout. Missouri State concludes the 2007 season with a 6-10-4 overall record, finishing fifth in the MVC with a 1-3-2 mark.
Evansville had the control of play in the early minutes, but failed to convert on scoring chances early and the Aces found themselves behind after sophomore midfielder Johannes Demarzi scored on a give-and-go from sophomore midfielder Kyle Windmueller 6:28 into the match to put the Bears up, 1-0. The Aces continued to force the issue offensively and earned a penalty kick after a Bear defender pulled down an Ace in the box. Dan Gibson scored his third goal on the season after converting the ensuing penalty kick 21:20 into the match.
The Aces went up just minutes later as Mike Luttrull scored his fifth goal of the year after converting a header off a Kieran Purcell pass with just under 17 minutes remaining in the first half. Teams went to their lockerrooms with UE leading 2-1 at the intermission. The Aces outshot the Bears in the first frame, 11-6. It looked as if the match was going to end in regulation but sophomore forward Will Ziegahn scored the equalizer as his shot toward the goal hit and bounced off Alec Dufty’s hands into the net with just 2:06 remaining.
While the Aces controlled much the first 90 minutes, the Bears had the better of play in the overtime, including three great scoring chances in the final five minutes of the second overtime. Junior midfielder Justin Alford hit the crossbar with just over five minutes remaining and shots by sophomore forward Will Ziegahn and Demarzi sailed just wide.
Evansville went first in the shootout and had successful kicks by Kieran Purcell, Cory Elenio, Dan Gibson, and Ben Harner. Missouri State’s successful tries were by Ziegahn, Demarzi and junior forward Henry Lawrence. Goalkeeper Alec Dufty of Evansville had a diving stop of Windmueller on the Bears’ second attempt, but after the required five PKs for each team, it was tied 3-3. In the sixth and decisive final kick, Harner scored, while MSU sophomore defenderRyan Hennessey’s shot got past Dufty but hit the cross bar.
