Ohio Valley Conference

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois University Men's Soccer looked to get the conference season back on track with a Thursday afternoon matchup with the Liberty Flames. Just twelve days ago, WIU went to Liberty to open conference play and took a tough 7-1 loss. Today was a completely different match, as the Leathernecks grabbed an early goal and played excellent defense as they hung on for their first victory in the new conference. 

Western sported a new lineup and a look in Thursday's match, starting off in a 4-3-3. Micah Ramirez got the start in goal, and he played one of his best matches of the season, playing the full 90 minutes for the sixth time this season. Ramirez tallied five saves in the match, his third most in a match in 2024. In front of him were center-backs Ryan Wrobleski and Joel McIntyre, who played an outstanding role in limiting one of the country's best offenses to zero goals on the day. 

In the eleventh minute, Liam Gainey, stationed on the left wing, cut inside and played a perfect one-two with Gabe Chapa who put Gainey in a perfect position to give the Leathernecks the lead, and the junior from Mannheim, Germany did just that. Gainey buried a ball into the top right corner of the net, his sixth of the season. Gainey currently ranks second in the OVC in goals and third in points with 14. 

After the early goal, the Leathernecks had their work cut out for them in trying to stop the Liberty offense but did just that. Ramirez saved a shot from the OVC's goals leader Michael Huss in the 13th minute, and did a great job on corner kicks late in the half, punching out any ball that the Flames put in. 

Western had a few more chances before the break, as right-winger Diego Porras cut inside and launched a shot from deep that was saved. 20 minutes later, Porras soared a cross into Xavier Gagnon, who made great contact with his head but his shot was also saved by the Liberty keeper. 

The one-nil scoreline held until the halftime whistle, but not before a few key defensive plays from Wrobleski, McIntyre, and company.

Liberty continued to put the pressure on the Leathernecks in the second half, but WIU's defense stayed rock-solid. The Flames had a few solid chances around the 62nd, including three corners,  but were unable to capitalize on them. They continued to get chances deep in the match, but shots kept going out up top, or out wide. 

The Flames got two corners in the 90th minute, as the first one was punched back out for a corner by Ramirez, before the junior transfer from Temple sealed the game with a save with seven seconds left. 

The result is a massive victory for WIU, as they improve to 6-6-1 on the year and 1-3 in conference play. Western has won every home match they've played, moving to 4-0 on the year, and holds a 7-0 goal differential at John Mackenzie Alumni Field in 2024.

UIW 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois men's soccer team (1-8-1, OVC 0-3) came up short 4-1 against conference opponent Incarnate Word (4-5-1, OVC 2-2) on Thursday evening at Lakeside Field. The Panthers are set to play again on Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm, as part of a double header with the EIU women's soccer team.  

Eastern Illinois began the first half strong, recording a shot on goal in four attempts as the contest headed into the break tied 0-0.  

Incarnate word came out of halftime with momentum, as William Fagerberg scored the game's first goal in the 59' minute. The Cardinals would go on to score two more additional goals in the following 15 minutes to extend their lead to 3-0.  

The Panthers would answer in the 77' minute as Kyle Ward recorded the Panthers' first goal off of an assist from Ashur Eshw. Ward finished the day with two shots on goal and three total shots to lead the EIU offense.  

Kyce Toutanji logged his third start of the 2024 season, recording nine saves on 14 shots on goal from UIW. Jackson Liley also contributed to the offensive efforts, recording two shots in 73 minutes played..

SIUE 2, LINDENWOOD 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Nacho Abeal scored twice in the final 10 minutes and SIUE men's soccer remained unbeaten an unscored upon in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 2-0 win at Lindenwood Thursday.

The Cougars improved to 4-0-0 in league play and lead the league with 12 points. They are the only unbeaten team in league play. SIUE is 6-3-2 overall.

Lindenwood fell to 2-2 in the OVC and 6-5-1 overall.

Abeal broke a scoreless tie when he buried a penalty kick with 9:02 to play.

The penalty was awarded after Moreira was fouled hard near the top of the box by Lindenwood's Anel Kafedzic.

In the 89th minute, Moreira found Abeal in the box, who finished his second of the night from close range. Abeal now leads the Cougars with five goals.

The Cougars let loose with a season-high 27 shots. It is the most shots in a game for SIUE since taking 29 shots in a 2016 game against Central Arkansas. It is the third straight game that the Cougars have unloaded more than 20 shots in a game. Nine of SIUE's shots were on goal.

Abeal paced the Cougars with seven total shots. Jacobo Sanfeliu took six shots including three on goal. Moreira had two shots on frame.

Lindenwood tested SIUE goalkeeper Rob Gjelaj who turned away all five shots on target to record his sixth shutout of the year and his fourth in a row. The Lions finished with 12 total shots.

HCU 2, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Houston Christian University picked up its first road victory of the season with a 2-0 shutout of University of Southern Indiana on Thursday night at Strassweg Field. The Huskies put together another strong defensive effort in moving back to .500 on the season and securing their third positive result of the conference slate.
 
The Huskies were aggressive offensively from the outset, putting two shots on goal in the first six minutes before the breakthrough in the 28th minute. Thomas Wyke fed Rio Pemberton with a soft touch up the right side of the box, but his shot was blocked by USI keeper Andrew Klott. Klott was unable to corral the loose ball and Herrera picked up the loose change and blasted the rebound off of Klott's leg for the one-nil lead.

That lead would remain through the intermission, and the Huskies would control the tempo on both ends of the pitch for the next 30-plus minutes. It was then that insurance came in the form of Ethan Giwa-McNeil, who took a ball from the left side on his right foot for a howler to the top left corner of the woodwork that put the visitors up by a pair. The goal came off a lovely over-the-top feed from Ryan Okerayi and was Giwa-McNeil's team-high fifth tally of the season.

The hosts would put some chances together down the stretch, each met by the paws of Alex Aitken, including a brilliant poke away of Ahiro Nakamae's blast in the final seconds that preserved the clean sheet. Aitken was strong once again in between the posts, making seven saves on the night while picking up a third shutout in his last five.
 
HCU and USI would end up tied in shots taken and the Screaming Eagles closed with one more shot on goal after their late flurry. The two teams were even on corners at four apiece.
 
Herrera led the offense with four shots, two on goal and his second score of the season. Pemberton had three shots and two on target and became the 10th HCU player to garner an assist, as he picked up his career helper on the Herrera goal. Giwa-McNeil took over the team lead in goals with his fifth, while Ryan Okerayi took the team lead in assists with his fourth of the campaign.
 
Brock Martindale had two shots, both on goal, to lead the losing effort for Southern Indiana, now 2-10 overall and 1-3 in OVC play. Andrew Klott made four saves for the Eagles.
 
The Huskies climb back to even on the season at 5-5-2 overall, and improve to 3-1-0 in the OVC. HCU remains tied for second in the league, now with Liberty who fell 1-0 at Western Illinois on Thursday. SIUE stayed top of the table by virtue of their 2-0 win over Lindenwood, while UIW claimed a 4-1 victory at Eastern Illinois.