The Aces Women’s Soccer team secured a 2-1 victory over Lindenwood on the night of Thursday, August 29, under the lights at Arad McCutchan Stadium. UE came into the matchup desperately needing a bounce-back performance after a 4-1 road loss at the hands of Western Kentucky during their previous matchup. Evansville, demonstrating a collective effort from both young stars and veteran leaders, managed to outlast Lindenwood and come out on top after scoring two late-second-half goals.

The Aces were dealing with injuries coming into the Thursday night match from both Kaylee Woosley (Evansville, Indiana) and Emily Karr (Mooresville, Indiana), who were the starting center backs in the season opener against Lipscomb. Head Coach Chris Pfau turned to two true freshmen, Brielle LaBerge (Cumming, Georgia) and Lindley Amick (Las Vegas, Nevada), to fill the void at center back. The freshman duo started and stayed in all 90 minutes of the match, helping keep Lindenwood scoreless for 88 minutes. Evansville’s attack, on the other hand, started slowly, with no shots recorded on goal in the first half.

That changed in the second half, though, as the Aces finally broke the 0-0 deadlock with a goal from junior forward Amy Velazquez (Avon, Indiana) in the 72nd minute—a goal set up by a through ball in behind Lindenwood’s backline from midfielder Ashlyn Koutsos (Cumming, Georgia). That was Velazquez’s second career goal for the Aces. Five minutes after that, senior forward Hailey Autenrieb (Cincinnati, Ohio) put the game away in the 77th minute by following the rebound of her initial shot off the post for an easy finish. “Scoring my first goal of the season was a great feeling, but it felt even better knowing that I put our team in a better position to get the win,” said Autenrieb after tallying her fifth career goal as an Ace.

Evansville surrendered a late goal to Lindenwood in the last two minutes, spoiling goalkeeper Myia Danek’s (Laingsburg, Michigan) second straight shutout bid. But their two-goal cushion proved to be sufficient, as the team was able to hang on to the one-goal lead and improve to 1-1-1 on the season. Junior outside back Isa Valdez (Phoenix, Arizona), who made her first start of the season and also logged a full 90 minutes in the match, had this to say after the game: “It felt amazing to get our first home win of the season, especially in front of the crowd we had tonight. This is just the beginning for us, all the hard work we have put into training, lifts, and film sessions is translating into our game.”

Aces Women’s Soccer is looking to stay undefeated at home in 2024 as they return to Arad McCutchan Stadium on Thursday, September 12th, for senior night versus UT Martin.