NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - The Belmont men’s soccer team dropped a 4-1 decision at Evansville to fall to 2-3-0 on the season, Wednesday night.  Freshman Nico Olsak scored the lone Bruin goal in the match, marking the first score of the midfielder’s career.

“We played well but got fatigued late,” Head Coach Earle Davidson said  “They're a good veteran squad that is also really fast.  We didn't keep possession as well as we had the past couple of games, and we had to defend for too long, but we easily could have tied this game.”

The Purple Aces came out firing, recording 21 first half shots to Belmont’s one, but neither team got on the board until the 42nd minute of play when Evansville’s Gavin Chura scored off of a cross from Jesse Sharp to take the 1-0 lead at halftime.

Evansville struck again early in the second frame when Jarrett Robbins finished off a couple of missed shots by his teammates just under five minutes into the period.  Sharp and Phillip Manga were credited with assists on the play after forcing Belmont keeper Juho Illi to block their shots back into the field of play.

The Bruins finally got on the board in the 58th minute when sophomore Brandon Tarr found Olsak in the middle of the pitch, who then fired a shot from 30 yards out right over Evansville’s goalkeeper.  The score got BU within one goal, but it wasn’t enough as the Purple Aces went on to score twice more and finish with the 4-1 victory.

Evansville made it 3-1 when a direct kick from Brandon Causey found the head of Robby Lynch, who put into the back of the net in the 72nd minute.  With just over 10 minutes left in regulation, the Purple Aces’ Tad Kreamalmeyer capped off a 40 yard run with the fourth and final Evansville goal of the game.  Chura recorded the assist on the play.

“They're a very good team, but we had them rattled in the second half,” Davidson continued.  “We made a couple of young mistakes on their final two goals.  If we can avoid mistakes like that we will be closer to where we need to be.”

The Bruins recorded only six shots in the match, while Evansville finished with 31.  Illi tallied seven saves in just over 76 minutes of play.  Senior Wesley Wray substituted in goal for the final 14 minutes of play.

“It's games like this against great competition that will prepare us for the Atlantic Sun season,” Davidson concluded.  “Getting easy wins isn't the right way to go about it.  A tough team like Evansville will help us out in the future.”

Belmont will next continue the four game road trip with competition at the Lipscomb Invitational on September 17 and 19.  BU will challenge UAB on the 17th at 3:00 p.m. and take on UNC Asheville on the 19th at 2:00 p.m.  The road trip ends with a match at Duquesne, September 25 at 6:00 p.m.