HCU finished its West Coast road swing with a 1-0 win over Grand Canyon, ending the trip 1-0-1, while UIW lost at No. 3 ranked SMU.
#3 SMU 3, UIW 0
DALLAS - The University of the Incarnate Word men's soccer team fell in 3-0 to No. 3 SMU on Friday night, at Washburne Stadium in Dallas.
The Mustangs controlled the opening minutes, testing the Cardinals early with four shots in the first 15 minutes. Reagan Gyedu recorded UIW's first and only shot of the half in the 18th minute.
SMU opened the scoring after being awarded a penalty kick in the 21st minute, taking a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs added another goal six minutes before halftime to take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
Following a corner kick opportunity, SMU extended its lead in the 59th minute. A minute after the goal, Charles Chimezie created an opportunity for the Cardinals, forcing the SMU goalkeeper to make a stop. Knox Hicks added two more shots in the final three minutes of the match.
HCU 1, GRAND CANYON 0
PHOENIX - Houston Christian University got a wonderful first-half goal and made it stand up, holding off a hard-charging Grand Canyon University 1-0 at GCU Stadium on Monday night.
GCU came out aggressive, pushing the tempo and leveling shots on the HCU defense. The Lopes had a stretch of three shots on target in a two-minute span ending in the 16th minute, but were denied each time by Harvey Heeps.
The Huskies put their first good attempt in the 18th minute, as Ryan Okerayi's shot was saved by Beltran Fernandez. The Lopes would continue to push the pace, and in nearly came up with the opening tally in the 32nd minute, but Bradley DeJesus shot rattled off the post.
Just seconds later, HCU was awarded a free kick, and Harvey Heeps launched a long pass that covered three quarters of the pitch. The ball whistled its way through traffic and onto the feet of Clarenns Sainrimat, who took one touch to his right before smashing a shot across the face of Fernandez for the games first score just a second into the 33rd minute.
Heeps would make two more big stops in the final two minutes of the half, as HCU headed to the intermission with the 1-0 advantage.
The Lopes would continue the offensive pressure in the second frame, but the Huskies were up to the task defensively, with Heeps making a trio of stops to hold the hosts at bay.
HCU was outshot 27-7, including 11-3 on goal and GCU earned nine corners to just three for the Huskies.
Clarenns Sainrimat opened his blue and orange account with his first goal of the season. Ryan Okerayi had a pair of shots, one on target. Harvey Heeps got his first career assist on the kick to Sainrimat, and also had a career-high nine saves in posting his second clean sheet of the campaign.
Grand Canyon (2-3) had eight different players register two shots or more, led by Jorge Lopez with four, two on target.