EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's soccer took its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season Wednesday with a 1-0 loss at Evansville.

Robby Lynch scored his third goal of the season at 53:52 for Evansville. The Purple Aces turned a free kick by Blake Schneider into a goal on a header by Lynch.

The Cougars fell to 6-5-1 overall and 1-1 in the MVC. Evansville improved to 5-6-1 overall and 1-1 in the MVC.

SIUE Head Coach Kevin Kalish said the Cougars were not strong in the first half and had too many players who were not playing at their top level. And that's not going to get the job done in the MVC, he added.

SIUE finished with four shots in the game with two in each half. Evansville came out strong in the first half with 10 shots but finished with just two in the second half.

Chances were abound for both teams as both squads finished with seven corner kicks. All seven of SIUE's corner kicks were in the second half.

"After Evansville's goal, we started to play with more confidence and urgency," said Kalish.

SIUE picked up its four shots from Jared Tejada, Mike Jones, Jose Tamayo and Benny Jeffery.

"Jared Tejada came in and gave us a spark off the bench," noted Kalish.

Robert Randant finished with one save and was credited with the shutout for the Purple Aces. Nick Collico collected three saves for SIUE.

The Cougars next travel to Eastern Illinois, which earned its first MVC victory Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Central Arkansas. Game time is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.

"It about our team coming ready to play," Kalish said.

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