Men's Soccer Waits Out Lightning, Buries Visiting Evansville 3-1

Friday, August 26

XU Soccer Complex

7 p.m.

Xavier University

1-0

Evansville

0-1

Evansville

Xavier

Men's Soccer Waits Out Lightning, Buries Visiting Evansville 3-1

08.27.16 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

XU scored three unanswered after a second minute strike by the Purple Aces

By: Brendan Bergen, Xavier Athletics Communication

CINCINNATI – Xavier men's soccer finally took the field for their 2016 regular season opener, waiting out nearly three hours of weather delay to defeat visiting Evansville, 3-1, at XU Soccer Complex.

The Purple Aces got on the board in the second minute, surprising the Musketeers on a set piece, before XU took control of the match. Evansville took five of its eight total shots in the first 19 minutes and never seriously threatened after the Musketeers' equalized in the 29th minute.

Derrick Otim scored the go-ahead goal for XU – the first of his college career – in the 41st minute, while fellow Englishman Curtis Hansford added insurance with a strike in the 53rd – also his first career goal.

HOW THEY SCORED

• 2' | Evansville | Evansville's Jared Robinson tapped in a far side corner from Zac Blaydes, giving the Purple Aces a quick advantage.
• 29' | Xavier | Jalen Brown helped XU get even with a penalty kick score, burying a shot after getting tackled hard in the box.
• 41' | Xavier | Derrick Otim scored his first collegiate goal with a rocket from about 25 yards, receiving a centering pass from Jalen Brown.
• 53' | Xavier | Curtis Hansford collected a ball from Josh Grant in the right side of the box and scored a one-touch goal for his first collegiate points.

NOTABLE

• Xavier improved to 3-2-2 in its last seven openers.
• Jake Ciricillo made a career-high five saves in his season debut.
• Derrick Otim and Curtis Hansford, both natives of England, scored their first career goals for XU.
• Jalen Brown's 29th minute penalty kick score was the first of his career. He tied a career-high with three points.
• Josh Grant assisted on Curtis Hansford's score in the 53rd minute, giving him a third career assist.
• Xavier outshot Evansville 21-8 overall, including 10-2 in the second half.
• Cameron Taylor, Jake Ciricillo and Cory Brown each went the full 90 in their first starts of the season.
• Jalen Brown and Majed Osman led the Musketeers with five shots apiece.

UP NEXT

• The Musketeers conclude a busy first weekend, traveling to UAB for a Sunday night tilt against the Blazers. First touch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

QUOTABLE

"It's 11:55 p.m. now and, I think, if you go back to 6:10 – when we left the locker room and got sent back in – we did a three hour lightning delay. I thought our guys handled that quite well with the way we passed the time, I thought we warmed up well, and then to allow a goal 1:35 in... we talk about the first 10 minutes of the game, we talk about restarts being important – that's extremely disappointing. I'm happy with the result, I'm happy how we stayed the course, but I think we can do better. I think we managed the game fairly well, but certainly in late junctures we need to look more like a veteran team and do what we want to do versus what the other team wants us to do. I think the important thing is we got out of here, we came-from-behind, we got what we needed out of it. But there's certainly more work to be done." – Andy Fleming

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST

• Xavier men's soccer has reached the NCAA Tournament in four of the last six seasons.
• The Musketeers finished 2015 at 12-6-1 overall, marking a sixth straight season with at least 10 wins – one of just 12 programs that can claim the feat.
• Last fall also marked Xavier's third straight finish in the top-four of the BIG EAST.
• XU was ranked in the nation's top-10 by the NSCAA for the third time in four years, while knocking of the national No. 1 (Creighton) and No. 2 (Notre Dame) on the road last season. The Musketeers are widely believed to be the first program to ever knock off both a No. 1 and a No. 2 on the road in the same season.