Evansville Blanks Lindenwood for First Win of Season

The Evansville Purple Aces broke into the win column in impressive fashion Friday night, going on the road and shutting out defending OVC champion Lindenwood, 3-nothing, in St. Charles, Missouri.

Evansville wasted little time taking control.

At exactly 10:00, Alejandro Fernandez opened the scoring with his second goal of the season. Izan Redondo picked up the assist, giving the Purple Aces an early 1-nothing advantage.

Evansville doubled the lead at 20:40.

This time it was Devin Shepherd finding the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Rodrigo Zambrana provided the assist, and Evansville suddenly had a two-goal cushion less than 21 minutes into the match.

The Aces controlled much of the opening half, outshooting Lindenwood 8-to-3 and taking the 2-nothing advantage into the locker room.

Evansville then produced the highlight of the night in the second half.

At 63:29, Etienne Ravelli scored his first goal of the season with a bicycle kick following an Evansville corner.

Marc Martin and Ben Zec were both credited with assists on the goal, giving Evansville a commanding 3-nothing advantage.

From there, the Aces finished the job defensively.

Evansville held Lindenwood to just five shots for the entire match and only two shots on goal. The Purple Aces finished with a commanding 16-to-5 advantage in total shots and 7-to-2 edge in shots on target.

Evansville’s goalkeeper made both required saves to preserve the clean sheet.

It was also a significant result considering the opponent and location. Lindenwood entered Friday 3-1-and-1 and had not lost a home match in nearly two years.

The Purple Aces changed that.

Evansville earns its first victory of the season and improves to 1-4-and-1, while Lindenwood falls to 3-2-and-1.

For Evansville, three different goal scorers find the net — Alejandro Fernandez, Devin Shepherd and Etienne Ravelli — while the Aces record their first clean sheet and first victory of 2026.

Evansville now turns its attention to River City Rivalry. The Purple Aces return home Tuesday night to face Southern Indiana at Arad McCutchan Stadium.