The No. 20 Massachusetts men’s soccer team picked up a historic NCAA tournament win over Evansville on a cold and rainy Thursday afternoon in Amherst. UMass (11-3-5, 5-2-1 Atlantic 10) defeated Evansville (11-7-3, 4-3-1 Missouri Valley Conference) 2-1 to earn its first NCAA tournament win since 2007.
“We’re both happy and relieved,” head coach Fran O’Leary said. “We played a very good team, a really well coached team, all credit to them. We followed them, they came back against really good teams and we talked about it at halftime, that they’re a resilient, well-coached team, and they were going to come back at us.”
The Purple Aces, the champions of the MVC, trailed for nearly the entire afternoon on the road but made a push late in the match. Evansville scored a goal that took a fortunate bounce in the 71st minute to halve the deficit. Alex Geczy came up with a massive 87th minute save on a shot fired by Audun Engen Vik of Evansville. The save was critical in sealing the tournament win for UMass.
“These are all going to be tight games,” O’Leary said. “It’s a little bit nerve-wracking. People have to make plays, Geczy made a big save right at the end … I thought our center backs [Thursday] won so many balls in the air. I thought the two of them were terrific but it’s just a team effort.”
Alec Hughes, the Minutemen’s star striker, was once again stellar and a key part of the team’s victory. Hughes was aggressive and dangerous all afternoon, leading the team with seven shots, six of which were on target. He also helped to put the Minutemen on top with the opening goal of the game in the 21st minute.
The all-time leading goal scorer in UMass history lined up to take the free kick right on the left edge of the box and drilled it into the top right corner past the outstretched arms of Evansville goalkeeper Michal Mroz. The goal put UMass up 1-0 and earned a lead it would never relinquish.
With UMass up 1-0 at halftime, the Minutemen were seeking an insurance goal to make it a two-goal lead in the second half. In the 60th minute, UMass got its second goal, off the boot of Andrew Ortiz. Ortiz scored from the middle of the box and tucked his shot into the bottom right corner off an assist from Oliver Akintade.
After Ortiz put UMass up two, the entire team jumped off the bench to celebrate in the corner of the field. From then on, it seemed highly likely that the Minutemen would be able to secure its first NCAA tournament win in 17 years and its first under O’Leary’s leadership. UMass gave up a goal with 20 minutes left but, Geczy’s timely save and some late-game clock management helped the Minutemen seal the deal.
Overall, UMass dominated Evansville in terms of shots and shots on goal. The Minutemen nearly doubled the Purple Aces in shots, 21-11, and more than tripled them in shots on goal, 11-3. The shot discrepancy displays the strong offensive performance against a blazing hot team in Evansville that was coming off three straight wins and a conference championship in the MVC.
UMass will return to action for the second round of the NCAA tournament against No. 6 Penn. The game will be played on Sunday, Nov. 24 in Philadelphia. Kick-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
