SUNDAY'S SCORES
UIW 2, @Liberty 2
@Western Illinois 1, HCU 0
SIUE 3, @Eastern Illinois 0
@Lindenwood 7, Southern Indiana 0
LIBERTY 2, UIW 2
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Liberty Flames and the Incarnate Word Cardinals battled to a 2-2 tie Sunday afternoon at Osborne Stadium in the regular season for both teams.
Liberty jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on goals by Ohio Valley Conference scoring leader Michael Huss and senior midfielder Luke Eberle, both playing in their final home games of their careers.
However, UIW was able to trim the Flames’ advantage to one by halftime with a goal during the 42nd minute and then tied the game early in the second half.
Despite carrying play during the final 15 minutes, Liberty could not find the go-ahead goal to take back the lead as the OVC contest ended in a stalemate.
Each team entered the contest already having qualified for the OVC Tournament. Liberty finishes the regular season with a 7-6-3 overall record and a 5-3-2 OVC mark. With 17 points, the Flames finish in fourth in the conference standings. UIW ends the regular season with a 5-5-6 overall record and a 3-2-5 OVC mark. With 14 points, the Cardinals finish in fifth in the conference.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 1, HCU 0
MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's soccer team clinched a berth to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament this afternoon with a one-nil victory over Houston Christian. With the win, this is the first postseason appearance for the Leathernecks since 2019.
Western Illinois had 7 shots in the first half against the Huskies with only one shot being on goal. The first half would see two yellow cards as the two sides would play very aggressively throughout the whole match. Micah Ramirez would have one save in the opening 45 minutes of play, with the score being 0-0 at the half.
In the 50th minute, Xavier Gagnon received a great cross from Gabe Chapa and Gagnon would score on a header to give the Leathernecks the lead. The last 20 minutes of the match would become intense as the Leathernecks were clinging to a one-nil lead trying to qualify for the postseason tournament. Houston Christian would have a couple of late opportunities but the Leatherneck defense would continue to do what they've done all season long at home, not allowing a goal to be scored and holding on for the victory.
SIUE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - – Karson Gibbs scored his first two career goals and SIUE men's soccer capped off its regular season with a 3-0 win at Eastern Illinois Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars wrapped the regular season at 10-4-3 and 8-1-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Cougars had already clinched the regular season championship and No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament for the second straight year.
Eastern Illinois finished its season at 2-12-2 overall and 1-8-1 in the OVC.
Jacobo Sanfeliu sent SIUE to halftime with a 1-0 lead, netting the game winner in the 44th minute with an assist from Jacob Bilyeu.
Gibbs scored twice in the second half. His first came in the 50th minute after an assist from Pavel Dashin. Gibbs made it 3-0 in the 67th minute with Patrick Coleman picking up the assist.
SIUE goalkeeper Rob Gjelaj made five saves on his way to his OVC-leading eighth shutout of the year.
SIUE outshot Eastern Illinois 19-10. The Cougars held a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal.
The OVC Tournament is next for the Cougars. For the second consecutive season, the tournament will be played at SIUE's Korte Stadium.
LINDENWOOD 7, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's soccer (10-5-3, 6-2-2 OVC) blanks Southern Indiana (2-14-2, 1-7-2 OVC) by a final score of 7-0 on senior day at Hunter Stadium. The Lions finish their 2024 regular season with 10 wins, their most since 2017. Their six conference wins are also their most in the Division I era and most since 2021.
"It's always great when you get so many guys involved especially the seniors," said head coach Kris Bertsch. "Those guys played a lot of minutes and then we were able to get to our bench and really empty it. The guys kept going and that is great, it is great when they find success."
After Sunday's results in the Ohio Valley Conference, Lindenwood will be the #3 seed heading into the OVC Championships next weekend hosted on the campus of SIUE in Edwardsville, Ill. LU will take on the #6 seed Western Illinois on Sunday, Nov. 10th at 1:00 p.m. CT. Click here to see the full tournament field.
Lindenwood capped off their 2024 regular season with seven goals, their most of the season and second most in the Division I era. The Lions have now scored 37 goals this season, the most by an LU team since 2018.
Bertsch's squad was all offense on Sunday posting 21 total shots with 13 landing on net. Of the seven goals, Lindenwood had six different scorers and six different players with an assist. Southern Indiana was stifled on offense posting only four shots with none on-goal. Enzo Gil earned his seventh shutout this season marking the most by a Lindenwood goalie in a season since Fermin Hughes in 2012.
The first half saw Lindenwood start the scoring festivities early with a Jermaine Mentoor goal during the 5th minute after a Southern Indiana defender knocked the ball to him off a corner kick. Mentoor, a senior, scored his third goal of the season and is one of nine players to have multiple goals this year.
Now Bijou also scored his third goal of the season during the 35th minute of action. He was assisted by Henrique Perestrelo, both were honored on senior day. The Lions had seven of their 21 shots in the first half.
Lindenwood's offense ramped up the pace in the second half scoring five goals. John Gates posted his fourth of the season on a penalty kick after being fouled in the box during the 49th minute. Ethan Blake later missed his first penalty kick of the season and is now 3-4 on the year.
Mekhi Wright got in the scoring column for the year with his first goal during the 63rd minute. On the left-side of the box, Anis Smajlovic and Jens Haukeland made two passes that left Wright open for the shot. Snajlovic would then score just over one minute later and was assisted by Blake.
Haukeland was able to score his second goal of the season during the 77th minute and was assisted by Jozef Palushaj. Smajlovic scored his second and final goal of the game during the 89th minute and was assisted by Luke Neely and Palushaj. The Lions have now scored over five goal three times this season with all of them coming inside Hunter Stadium.