• OVC Men’s Soccer Report – August 18 (PDF)

This Week’s Schedule
 
Thursday, August 20
Southern Indiana at Milwaukee, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
UMass Lowell at UIW, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Chicago State at Lindenwood, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Omaha, 7:00 p.m.
UTRGV at West Florida, 7:30 p.m.
Jacksonville at HCU, 7:30 p.m.
SIUE at Kansas City, 7:30 p.m. (Summit League Network)

Saturday, August 22
Quincy at Western Illinois, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Sunday, August 23
Stetson at UTRGV, 10:00 a.m. (ESPN+)
UMass Lowell at HCU, 7:00 p.m.
Jacksonville at UIW, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Monday, August 24
Lindenwood at IU Indy, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southern Indiana at Northern Kentucky, 5:00 p.m.
 

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Notes From Around the League
 
Highlights From Around the League: The fourth season of OVC men's soccer gets underway on Thursday with seven of the eight league teams in action on Opening Night ... Defending champion Lindenwood was picked the preseason favorite in a vote of league head coaches ... UTRGV joins the OVC as an affiliate program in 2026.
 
Okerayi Named to Players to Watch List: The United Soccer Coaches named its selection of forwards on its NCAA Division I Men's Players to Watch list for the 2026 season, with HCU's Ryan Okerayi being named as one of 28 across the country. Okerayi is the first player in HCU program history to be recognized as part of a list compiled and released by the All-America Committees. The national watch-list acknowledgement is a lead up for the prestigious Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, which is presented to the National Player of the Year at the end of the regular season.
 
Fourth Season of OVC Men's Soccer: This year marks the fourth season of OVC men's soccer, which was announced as the league's 19th sport in March 2023. Five OVC institutions currently field men’s soccer teams: Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SIUE, Southern Indiana and Western Illinois. In addition, Houston Christian (HCU), Incarnate Word (UIW) and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV are affiliate members, giving the OVC eight men’s soccer programs. This marks the first season for UTRGV in the OVC; the addition of Vaqueros gives the OVC its third men’s soccer institution in the state of Texas. Located in Edinburg, Texas, the program spent 10 seasons in the WAC before becoming an Independent for the 2025 season.
 
2026 OVC Tournament: The 2026 OVC Men's Soccer Championship will be held on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri for the second-straight season. The top six seeds make the field, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds getting byes to the semifinals. The eight OVC men's soccer teams are divided into two scheduling pods, with each team playing the other teams in its pod twice during the season, and teams in the other pod once. The tournament format gives the winner of each pod a first round tournament bye. Seeds 3-6 are based on total points, regardless of scheduling pod.
 
Lindenwood Picked as 2026 OVC Preseason Favorite: Defending OVC champion Lindenwood has been predicted the preseason favorite ahead of the 2026 OVC men's soccer season. The Lions picked up 11 of 16 first-place votes and 94 points in the poll of league head coaches and communications directors. HCU (who has been in the OVC Tournament Final each of the past two years) and SIUE (who won the regular season and tournament titles in 2023 and 2024) finished tied for second-place with 80 total points. The Huskies picked up two first-place votes while SIUE received three.  The poll was founded out by Eastern Illinois (54), UTRGV (46), UIW (42), Western Illinois (36) and Southern Indiana (18).
 
ESPN+: The OVC has a media rights deal with ESPN to air games on ESPN+, which is a service that features over 30,000 live events across college, international soccer, golf, tennis, combat, and the full ESPN Originals library. Fans have access to ESPN+ content via any ESPN subscription or Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Bundle subscription, as well as certain TV provider offerings. Please check with your TV provider to see if your TV package includes ESPN (Select or Unlimited offerings).