• OVC Men’s Soccer Report – September 1 (PDF)
 
This Week’s Schedule
 
Monday, August 31
@#3 SMU 6, HCU 0

Wednesday, September 2
IU Indy at Southern Indiana, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Western Illinois at Bradley, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Friday, September 4
Lindenwood at Butler, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Our Lady of the Lake at UIW, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
HCU at Cal State Northridge, 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 5
Western Illinois at Green Bay, 2:00 p.m.
Northern Illinois at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Sunday, September 6
UTRGV at USF, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
#16 Saint Louis at SIUE, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)

Monday, September 7
UIW at #3 SMU, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
HCU at Grand Canyon, 9:00 p.m. (MW+)
 

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OVC Players of the Week
 
CO-OFFENSIVE
Luca Bartoni, F • 6-1, 185, 5th Year • St. Louis, Mo. • Lindenwood
Bartoni repeated as Offensive Player of the Week after tallying two goals over three matches last week. After tallying two shots on goal in a 1-0 loss at IU Indy last Monday, Bartoni found the back of the net in the Lions home win over Blackburn, in his only shot of the night in limited action. He capped the week with another goal, in a 1-1 draw with Wright State. For the week he played 207 minutes, tallying six four shots on goal. HIs four goals on the season are tied for first in the OVC (and second nationally).
 
CO-OFFENSIVE
George Frost, F/MF • 5-10, Jr. • Peterborough, England • Western Illinois
Frost scored twice and added an assist as Western Illinois topped Illinois Springfield 4-0 on Sunday.  The junior assisted on the first goal of the game in the 10th minute, and then added his goals in the 83rd and 90th minutes on his only two shot attempts of the contest. It marked his third and fourth goals of the season, which tied him for the OVC lead (and second nationally). His 1.33 goals/game average ranks third nationally.
 
Others Nominated: Keiden Green, Eastern Illinois; Luca Bartoni, Lindenwood; Giovanni Padilla, UIW; George Frost, Western Illinois.
 
DEFENSIVE
Patrick Osilaja, D • 5-10, 175, Sr. • Evanston, Ill. • Eastern Illinois
Osilaja played all 180 minutes in matches against Wright State and St. Thomas last week, helping the Panthers to a 0-1-1 record. His defense was key in the team's 2-1 loss to Wright State and Sunday's 1-1 draw with St. Thomas. He also had a shot on goal against WSU.
 
Others Nominated: Santiago Maynez, HCU.
 
GOALKEEPER
Harvey Heeps, GK • 6-1, R-Fr. • Bedfordshire, England • HCU
Heeps faced 13 shots, making a career-best seven saves against UC San Diego. The redshirt freshman allowed only one goal, which came in the 84th minute in the 1-0 loss to the Tritons (who are undefeated on the year). Heeps has allowed just three goals in his first three collegiate matches, facing 24 total shots.
 
Others Nominated: Samuel Toruno, Eastern Illinois; Drew Heller, Western Illinois.
 
 
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
 
• Keiden Green (F, Jr.), Eastern Illinois. Green scored in the 875th minute against Wright State and netted five shots over two contests during the week.
 
• Giovanni Padilla (MF, Jr.), UIW. The junior scored the lone goal for UIW last week, finding the back of the net off a corner kick just 90 seconds into the second half against Tulsa.
 
• Santiago Maynez (D, So.), HCU. Played 90 minutes against UC San Diego, keying a defense that allowed only one goal (which came in the 85th minute).
 
• Samuel Toruno (GK, So.), Eastern Illinois. Made six saves over 180 total minutes of action against Wright State and St. Thomas. Toruno allowed three goals as EIU was 0-1-1.
 
• Drew Heller (GK, So.), Western Illinois. In lone game of the week, produced a clean sheet against Illinois Springfield, as the Leathernecks scored a 4-0 victory.
 
 
Notes From Around the League
 
Highlights From Around the League: OVC teams were just 2-7-3 in 12 total matches last week ... UTRGV (1-0-1), who did not play last week, and Southern Indiana (0-0-2) are the only two OVC teams without a loss this season ... Lindenwood tied Wright State on Sunday, moving to 13-0-4 in its last 17 home matches dating back to the 2024 season ... Southern Indiana tied Northern Kentucky last Monday (scoring twice in the final 23 minutes), marking the first time since 2015 that the team had opened the season with back-to-back results ... UIW enters the week with a 66.7% shot accuracy, which ranks seventh nationally, while Lindenwood ranks 11th nationally on shots on goal per game (8.75) ... This week's schedule includes two matchups with Top 25 teams, as HCU and UIW each play SMU and SIUE hosts Saint Louis in the battle for the Bronze Boot.
 
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).