THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Liberty 2, Eastern Illinois 0
Lindenwood 1, @HCU 1
SIUE 0, @UIW 0
LIBERTY 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Playing at home for the first time in two weeks, the Liberty Flames shut out the Eastern Illinois Panthers 2-0 in an Ohio Valley Conference match at Osborne Stadium.
The Flames jumped into the lead early, as Luke Eberle buried a penalty kick less than three minutes into the contest for a 1-0 advantage. Liberty midfielder Gabe Findley added a goal later in the first half off a nice pass into the 18-yard box by Perry Blay for a 2-0 advantage.
Using a solid defensive effort and holding possession on the attacking side of the field throughout the contest, Liberty limited visiting Eastern Illinois to eight shots in the game. Flames goalkeeper Owen Moore turned away all three shots sent his way to record Liberty’s fourth shutout of the season.
Liberty snaps a two-game losing skid, moving to 4-2 in the OVC and 6-5-1 overall. Eastern Illinois drops to 0-6 in conference and 1-10-1 overall.
HCU 1, LINDENWOOD 1
HOUSTON - Lindenwood men's soccer (7-5-2, 3-2-1 OVC) settled for a 1-1 draw on Thursday night against Ohio Valley Conference affiliate-member Houston Christian University (6-5-3, 4-1-1 OVC). This marks just the second tie this season for Lindenwood, first since the opening match at Milwaukee.
The Lions' were one of the top offensives coming into tonight's came, but were held to a season-low five shots with just two on goal. Houston Christian pushed the pace against the Lindenwood defense posting 14 shots with four on goal. HCU had a chance under a minute to steal the victory, but Ryan Okerayi's shot went wide of Enzo Gil.
Gil ws busy in net for Lindenwood especially during the final stretch of the match. The sophomore goalie made three saves in net while allowing the equalizer goal in the second half. HCU's 14 shots were the second most given up by Lindenwood in 2024.
Ethan Blake continued his hot streak in OVC play scoring the lone goal for the Lions. He has now scored a goal in his last two games and four out of his last five. Blake was first in total points in the OVC coming into Thursday's matchup and extended his total to 19 for the season.
Lindenwood's offense in the first half was slow to start posting only three total shots with Blake's landing in the top right of the net. Defense was the name of the game through the first 45 minutes as both teams had just one shot on goal each. Blake's goal in the 29th minute was assisted by John Gates and Josh Francombe.
The Huskies' offense kept the pressure on the Lions in the second half eventually scoring the tying goal during the 75th minute of action after a corner kick. Gil made the initial save on the goal before Morgan Worsfold-Gregg finished it off. HCU's offense had 10 shots in the second half (three on goal) to just two shots by the Lions.
Lindenwood's defense held off the Huskies attack late in the second half after HCU had multiple chances to steal the game within the final two minutes. The Lions blocked three shot attempts under a minute to play to help secure a tie. This marked the second straight year these two teams ended a match with a 1-1 tie.
SIUE 0, UIW 0
SAN ANTONIO - SIUE goalkeeper Rob Gjelaj made six saves on his way to his seventh shutout of the season as the Cougars played to a scoreless draw Thursday night at Incarnate Word. It is the fifth time in six Ohio Valley Conference games that SIUE has kept its opponent off the scoreboard.
SIUE maintained its hold on first place in the OVC, moving to 5-0-1 in the league and 7-3-3 overall. The Cougars have 16 points in UIW moved to 2-2-2 in the OVC and 4-5-3 overall.
Incarnate Word goalkeeper Alejandro DeLa Torre made five saves and icked up his second clean sheet this season.
Both goalkeepers were on top of their games, with Gjelaj making numerous tough saves. The biggest save may have come in the 65th minute when he came off his line and stopped a point-blank strike from Emmanuel Martinez.
DeLa Torre made several saves in the air, including two in the first half. In total, UIW outshot SIUE 15-8. The Cardinals finished with a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal.
Nacho Abeal led the Cougars with three saves, including one on goal. Jacobo Sanfeliu had two saves and also one on goal.
Martinez and Timothy Ospina each put two shots on goal for the Cardinals.
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