THURSDAY'S SCORES
@UIW 4, Eastern Illinois 2
@Chicago State 2, Liberty 0
Southern Indiana 1, @HCU 1
Lindenwood 2, @SIUE 2
UIW 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
SAN ANTONIO - The Eastern Illinois men's soccer team falls 4-2 during its first conference match on the road by a sequence of late goals. EIU is now 2-6-2 in the season and 1-1 in the OVC. UIW improves to 2-0-1 in the OVC and 4-4-3 in the season.
The match started with EIU once again showing what seems to be the team identity in the 2023 season, its strong defensive organization. The Panthers did well in closing up the spaces in its defending half, as UIW took the initiative of the game trying to find the scoreboard first. The few opportunities in which the Cardinals were able to take shots, they found Whelan Joseph in goal to stop them. Beside that, set pieces played a vital role for an exciting first half in San Antonio, as all three goals were scored from a referee call. In the 22nd minute, Casey Welage scored from a free kick that had a deflection in the wall before rolling into the low right corner of the goal, EIU leads 1-0. Within five minutes left to halftime, two penalty kicks were called, one for UIW and one for EIU, respectively. Miles Merritt tied the game and Felipe Kerr Lourenco gave the lead back to EIU, 2-1 at halftime.
EIU came back for the second half with the mission of stopping UIW's attack, as the Cardinals went strong in the search of the equalizing goal again. Although the defense held off UIW's attack well for most of the time, the Panthers could not resist in the last ten minutes of the match, as the Cardinals scored three times to end the night up on the scoreboard, 4-2.
UIW goals by Francisco Segura, Sello Diphoko, and Cesaz Elizalde.
Both Lourenco and Welage found themselves scoring their first goal of the season. Joseph ended the night with a season high of the twelve saves in net for the Panthers.
CHICAGO STATE 2, LIBERTY 0
CHICAGO - The Chicago State men's soccer team hosted league-leading Liberty University on Thursday night at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep and pulled out a 2-0 win to earn their first Ohio Valley Conference win and their first home win of the season with goals from Iann Topete and Hilary Odhiambo.
In the first half, the Cougars managed to dominate much of possession which eventually led to a curling cross from freshman Dasha Curiel onto Topete to fire in the first goal of the match just nine minutes in.
The Flames then turned to pressing up the field more, risking a counterattack from the Cougars. It wasn't until the 27th minute that Chicago State took advantage with a solo run from Odhiambo, splitting two defenders and finishing it off to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
In the second half, Liberty managed to produce several chances, however, the Cougars stood tall as goalkeeper Lucas Fontana produced a game-high five saves to keep the Flames scoreless and seal the win at 2-0.
HCU 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
HOUSTON - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer rallied in the final 10 minutes to earn a 1-1 tie at Houston Christian University Thursday evening in Houston, Texas. The Screaming Eagles go to 1-8-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the OVC, while HCU is 2-5-4, 0-1-2 OVC.
Trailing 1-0 after HCU took a 1-0 lead at the 64:55, USI senior forward Zach Barton (St. Louis, Missouri) evened the match, 1-1, at 81:52 with his first goal of the season. Barton was assisted on the play by sophomore midfielder Ednilson Voiles (Haiti).
The teams would have one more shot each in the final eight minutes before the final horn on the draw.
Overall, HCU controlled most of the match with a 19-7 lead in shots and 6-0 advantage in corners. USI junior goalkeeper Braden Matthews (Princeton, Indiana) held the Huskies to the one tally, making a career-best seven saves in the tie.
The USI defense was strong through the first half as the HCU offense had a 10-0 advantage in shots, 2-0 in shots on-goal. HCU also had a 5-0 lead in opportunities from the corner.
The numbers were closer in the second half with the shot differential in favor of HCU, 9-7. The Huskies also were limited to just one corner in the final 45 minutes.
SIUE 2, LINDENWOOD 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's soccer ran its unbeaten streak to 10 games, playing to a 2-2 draw with Lindenwood Thursday night at Korte Stadium.
The Cougars moved to 7-0-3 overall and 2-0-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Lindenwood moved to 4-4-3 overall and 1-1-1 in the OVC.
Jake Karolczak opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when Lindenwood failed to clear a ball from the box. Sam Layton laid the ball out to the top of the box when Karolczak hit a right foot shot to the far corner.
Lindenwood equalized three minutes into the second half. Cooper Wilson got his head to a high pass into the box and headed home over SIUE goalkeeper Sam Gomez, who was charging off his line.
Mitchell Murphy made it 2-1 SIUE with a header of his own in the 55th minute. Karolczak picked up the assist with when he lifted the ball in from the corner of the box.
Lindenwood tied the game a second time in the 70th minute on a corner kick. Matty Wackerfuss headed in at the back post for his first collegiate goal.
Both teams were shown red cards in the 83rd minute following a scrap near midfield.
SIUE outshot Lindenwood 15-9. The Cougars put eight shots on goal.