DEKALB, Ill. -- Sam Divis (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) equalized in the 82nd minute but Evansville scored three minutes later as the Purple Aces knocked off the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team, 2-1, on Saturday night (Oct. 19) at the NIU Soccer Complex. 

"Really disappointed to have dropped this one," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I didn't think we were very good in the first half and Evansville scored a nice goal, which came from poor defending on our part to give up the set piece. We weren't great in the first half but managed to create a couple of chances. 

"The second half was much brighter, we had a lot of decent chances and put pressure on their back four. In the final third, we squandered too many good opportunities. We scored the equalizing goal with less than 10 minutes to go and thought at that point we might find a winner, but ultimately, we got caught chasing the game and gave up that second goal."

In the 20th minute, NIU goalkeeper Atahan Arslan (Ismir, Turkiye) made a good save coming off his line and making himself big to thwart a chance from Nacho Diaz Barragan. 

Evansville (7-5-2, 3-2-0 MVC) opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on a free kick from Jacopo Fedrizzi. The Purple Aces earned a free kick just outside the corner of the box and Fedrizzi curled it inside the near post to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. 

Five minutes later, NIU had its best chance of the half as Josh Squires (Christchurch, England/Highcliffe School) split the Evansville defense with a pass in behind for the run of Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary). The Huskie winger latched onto the ball just inside the box and tried to find the far corner, but Evansville goalkeeper Michael Mroz was able to get a foot to it as the Purple Aces took a one-goal lead into halftime. 

NIU (2-11-0, 0-5-0 MVC) started the second half the far better of the two teams as Grant Paskus (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North), Martin Montoya (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Thomas all had looks at goal inside the opening 15 minutes of the second stanza. 

On the hour mark, Montoya had another chance as Squires cut a ball back to Montoya 15 yards out in front of goal, but Mroz was able to make the save. 

In the 76th minute, Kevin Kelly (Dublin, Ireland/St. Joseph Rush) had an effort from long range that Mroz bobbled before controlling for the save.

NIU finally made its second half pressure pay off in the 82nd minute as Divis scored for the second time in as many games. Jakub Drazek (Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) played the ball to Kelly who found a streaking Paskus just outside the box. Paskus poked the ball toward Ben Suddeth (Winfield, Ill./West Chicago) whose touch setup Divis for a right-footed shot from just inside the 18-yard box. Mroz got a hand to the shot from Divis but not enough to stop it as the Huskies found an equalizer with eight minutes remaining. 

Evansville went back in front in the 85th minute as Fedrizzi sprayed a ball wide to Edward Mendy and his low cross found Audun Engen Vik who side-footed home a game-winner from eight yards out. 

NIU will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 25, as the Huskies travel to Belmont. Kickoff against the Bruins is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT.