Going into the Mayor’s Cup, the University of Southern Indiana Eagles had been struggling. Following a somewhat promising 1-0 loss to the high ranked University of Akron Sept. 4, the Screaming Eagles looked for a victory against the University of Evansville Purple Aces Saturday. For over a quarter of the match, it seemed like they might find just that. However, as the scoreline, 4-0 in favor of Evansville, indicated, USI came up short-handed in that quest. 

The match began at 7 p.m. with a temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit. A record attendance of 682 for a highly anticipated match featuring two rivals that are only separated by  a couple of miles. Evansville started the game with a 4-4-2 lineup, with a heavy emphasis on feeding the ball to Nacho Diaz Barragan, junior forward. The Screaming Eagles countered with a 3-4-3, allowing for more activity in the dominant midfield, led by Nick Faddis, graduate midfielder. 

To start the match, the Screaming Eagles were physical, playing high press. Despite that, the Purple Aces were calm, relaxed and patient with passing and were limiting mistakes. Their playstyle reminded me of the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur F.C. under former manager Antonio Conte. They played a low defensive line, not heavily pressing, while counter-attacking off of their opponent’s miscues. They played passively and waited for offensive opportunities. 

Possession through 15 minutes became split, and offensive chances  hard to come by. Tough, gritty play, which included a couple of audible vulgarities I’m sure ESPN+ had to apologize for. In attack, the Screaming Eagles empathized finding scoring opportunities for Robert Schoenstein, junior forward. At the 23-minute mark, Alec Meissner, senior goalkeeper, made a great save to keep the game scoreless. This play gave USI momentum leading to a couple of good attacking opportunities which ultimately ended in no goals.

Then, at the 28-minute mark, a mistimed pass from the USI midfield gave the ball away to the Aces leading to a goal by Kai Phillip, senior forward. The defense was in no position to stop the counter-attack without risking a penalty. As momentum shifted toward UE, Sam Benoist, junior defender, made a hard, but necessary, tackle close to USI’s box, leading to a yellow card. At the time, I agreed with this attempt to stop the play, and I still stand by that. Unfortunately, this foul gave UE a free-kick in a particularly dangerous spot. Off the free-kick, the Screaming Eagles  cleared the ball outside the box, which found its way to Ola Arntsen, sophomore midfielder, who gave a beautiful shot into the goal at the 33-minute mark. A tough and unlucky move, as Meissner couldn’t see the play, since the box was heavily crowded by both teams. Following the goal, the Screaming Eagles were playing frustrated, especially with the Purple Aces playing more aggressively after the second goal. 

Going into halftime, Mat Santoro, men’s soccer head coach, must have given a great speech to calm down the troops. The Screaming Eagles began the second half with confidence and refreshment. It almost felt like they had been reborn. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as Carlos Barcia, graduate midfielder, put in a goal after an unlucky deflection by the Screaming Eagles’ defense. This goal destroyed the building momentum for USI. Soon after, at the 60-minute mark, Kai Phillip, senior forward, put in a goal off a nice corner assist by David Hernandez, freshman midfielder. For the rest of the half, the Purple Aces played conservatively, allowing the Screaming Eagles to get a couple of attacking opportunities, only to come up empty. The final buzzer sounded, ending the dominant match by the Purple Aces. The final score was USI 0,UE 4. 

I am by no means an athlete or a coach, I don’t play soccer and I don’t have the greatest knowledge of the game. However, I have learned more about soccer in the last three years than most, so I’d challenge the players, and possibly say no spot is guaranteed in the starting eleven. Southern Indiana’s performance was bad, the players, coaches and fans know it, but perhaps the team can bury the  ball, get back in practice and use this game as fuel to get back on track.