THURSDAY'S SCORES
Western Illinois 2, @SIUE 1
Southern Indiana 2, @UIW 2
Eastern Illinois 1, @Lindenwood 1
Liberty 0, @HCU 0
WESTERN ILLINOIS 2, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Western Illinois men's soccer earned a pivotal 2-1 comeback win over SIUE on Thursday night at Korte Stadium, keeping its postseason hopes alive with one match remaining in the regular season.
After conceding an early goal in the 14th minute, the Leathernecks answered with a strong second-half performance. Xavier Gagnon leveled the match in the 59th minute off an assist from Diego Porras, who then scored the go-ahead goal seven minutes later on a setup from Liam Gainey.
Goalkeeper Micah Ramirez came up clutch with five saves, helping Western Illinois hold off a late SIUE push. The Leathernecks finished with 13 total shots, including nine on goal, and held an 8-6 advantage in corner kicks.
Western Illinois improved to 4-10-4 overall and 2-3-4 in OVC play, while SIUE dropped to 4-10-2 (3-4-2 OVC).
SOUTHERN INDIANA 2, UIW 2
SAN ANTONIO - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer earns a 2-2 draw following a tough battle with the University of the Incarnate Word.
USI opened the match on its back foot. Incarnate Word scored in the 19th minute, taking an early 1-0 lead. The Eagles battled back late in the first half. Freshman Oliver Church scored the first goal of his collegiate career at 35:26. He was assisted by freshman Tony Murphy and junior Will Kirchhofer.
The Eagles entered that half even at one, despite USI getting outshot 4-2 and 2-1 on goal. Outside of Church's goal, sophomore Pablo Juan recorded the second shot for USI.
USI came out of the break strong, taking a 2-1 lead at 58:44 as freshman Ian Graham put one past the goalkeeper off a pass from freshman Edin Cvorovic. The lead did not last long, as the Cardinals evened the match again in the 66th minute.
For the game, the Eagles were outshot 14-4 and 7-4 on goal. USI had five individual players record a shot, with three tallying shots on goal. The Cardinals forced three corner kicks compared to the Eagles' two, but the Cardinals were called for offsides four times to the Eagles' zero. Freshman Jacob English nabbed a game-high five saves on the day.
LINDENWOOD 1, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team wrapped up their final home game of the 2025 season with a tie against Eastern Illinois by a score of 1-1. With the draw tonight, the Lions clinched the number one seed in the OVC Men's Soccer Tournament and picked up their first ever regular season championship at the Division I level. The tournament will be held in St. Charles, where the Lions finished with an 8-0-2 home record in 2025.
Both goals were scored in the first half of tonight's contest with Lindenwood striking first in the 31st minute. Gavin Csiszar sent a pass up the left sideline to Sebastia Cerda Tous, who made a move around his defender and fired a shot at the Eastern Illinois Goalkeeper. The Panther keeper made a save, but allowed a rebound opportunity for Luca Bartoni. Bartoni was all alone off the rebound and put the ball in the back of the net to give the Lions a 1-0 lead late in the half.
However, the Panthers responded eight minutes later with a goal of their own off a free kick from just outside of the box. Gui Gragnano took the free kick for EIU and sent a shot passed the wall of Lion defenders and past a diving Gavin Roberts to even the score at 1-1. Roberts limited the damage in the first half, recording four saves on seven shot attempts to keep the score tied heading into the break.
In the second half, both teams had opportunities to take the lead, but were unable to capitalize on set pieces and corner kicks as the game would end in a tie. Lindenwood had the slight advantage over the Panthers in corner kicks with six compared to EIU's five and both teams had the same amount of shots (14) and fouls (10) throughout the game. Matteo Landais and Luca Bartoni led the Lions in shots with three each, while Gavin Csiszar recorded his fourth assist on the season. The Senior from Medina, Ohio has registered an assist in three straight games and has a total of 16 points on the 2025 season with one game to play in the regular season. The Lions tied for the third time this season, with two of the three ties being at home.
HCU 0, LIBERTY 0
HOUSTON - Houston Christian University secured a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a hard-fought scoreless draw against visiting Liberty University on Thursday night at Sorrels Field.
The two teams engaged in a defensive slugfest from the outset, with neither team willing to budge. Ryan Okerayi got a good look early that was saved by LU's Tyler Beck. The Flames then put a couple of good runs together that led to a pair of solid shots by Leo Conneh with both saved handily by Alex Aitken.
Santiago Maynez had a go in the 44th minute again saved by Beck. The Huskies then got one last attempt before the halftime horn, as Jireh Oyebamiji's point blank blast was guided away by Beck.
In the second frame, Zach Lifferth got on one just over four minutes in but again Aitken was up to the task. Aitken would turn away Conneh in the 70th minute, and parried away a shot from Sam Farner in the 81st. HCU got one last good look in the 88th minute, as Cezar Onut's shot went just wide left.
Liberty doubled up HCU in shot 12-6, but only five were on target, compared to three from the Huskies.
Alex Aitken picked up his league-leading eighth clean sheet of the season, tying his personal single-season best from a year ago. The senior's 20th career shutout came with five more saves, pulling him within three of becoming the first keeper in school history with 300.
Tyler Beck made three saves for Liberty (8-3-6, 4-1-4 OVC) while Conneh had five shots, three on target.
HCU goes to 9-5-2 on the season and 4-3-2 in the OVC. The draw with Liberty secures a spot for the Huskies in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament beginning November 9 in St. Charles, Missouri, which after two straight years at SIUE will be hosted by Lindenwood. The Lions captured the OVC regular season title after a 1-1 home draw with Eastern Illinois on Thursday evening.