• OVC Men’s Soccer Report – September 17 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Monday, September 16
@Utah Valley 3,
Lindenwood 1
@#6 SMU 2,
UIW 0
Tuesday, September 17
Purdue Fort Wayne
at Southern Indiana, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Wright State, 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 18
UTRGV
at HCU, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Bradley
at SIUE, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Presbyterian
at Liberty (cancelled)
Friday, September 20
Northern Illinois
at Western Illinois, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, September 22
Omaha
at SIUE, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Lindenwood at St. Thomas, 1:00 p.m. (Summit League Network)
OVC Players of the Week
OFFENSIVE
Ricardo Garcia, MF • 5-6, 150, Sr. • Houston, Texas • HCU
Garcia scored one goal in each of HCU's matches last week, as the Huskies earned 2-2 draws at Omaha and Oral Roberts. Against Omaha he had a screamer from the top of the penalty arc in the 59th to beat HCU on the board (the team scored 25 minutes later to tie the game). At Oral Roberts Garcia leveled the match in the 80th minute with a header in the box. For the week Garcia had four shots (three on goal) and played a total of 152 minutes.
Others Nominated: Jordan Matthews, Lindenwood; Nacho Abeal, SIUE; Tyler Philpott, Western Illinois.
DEFENSIVE
Luke Neely, D • 5-11, 172, So. • Whitehouse, Texas • Lindenwood
Neely helped Lindenwood to its third-straight victory of the season as the Lions won 2-1 at Utah Tech. It marks the first three-game winning streak of the team's Division I era. The sophomore played all 90 minutes and helped limit the Trailblazers to just four shots and one goal (which came early in the second half).
Others Nominated: Hans Leza, HCU; Ryan Wrobleski, Western Illinois.
CO-GOALKEEPER
Enzo Gil, GK • 6-1, 188, So. • Sao Paulo, Brazil • Lindenwood
Gil allowed only one goal as Lindenwood topped Utah Tech 2-1 last week. Gil recorded a first half shutout before there was an hour weather delay at halftime. After allowing a goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half, he shut down the Trailblazers the rest of the way. His play has helped the Lions to its first three-game winning streak as a Division I team.
CO-GOALKEEPER
Rob Gjelaj, GK • 6-2, 185, Grad. • Romeo, Mich. • SIUE
Gjelaj earned the award for the third time this season after helping SIUE to a 1-1 draw with Memphis in what was a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament game between the two teams. The graduate made six saves over 90 minutes. Gjelaj ranks fifth nationally in saves/game (5.80).
Others Nominated: Owen Moore, Liberty; Youssou Ouendeno, Western Illinois.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Tyler Philpott (F, Fr.), Western Illinois. Scored the game-winning goal in the 76th minute as Western Illinois won 3-2 at Gonzaga. It marked the first road win for the Leathernecks since 2022 and first road non-conference win since 2018.
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Jordan Matthews (F, Jr.), Lindenwood. Played only three minutes, but was the hero when he scored the game-winning goal at Utah Tech. With less than 90 seconds to play he stole the ball just outside the box and found the top left of the net to score his first goal of the season.
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Youssou Ouendeno (GK, Sr.), Western Illinois. Entered the Gonzaga match at halftime and allowed only one goal while making three saves, all of which came after the 76th minute of the contest when WIU took a 3-2 lead.
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Owen Moore (GK, Jr.), Liberty. Moore made a career-high eight saves against James Madison.
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Ryan Wrobleski (D, Fr.), Western Illinois. The true freshman helped anchor a defense that allowed only two goals at Gonzaga. Wrobleski made several key clearances late in the game as WIU won its first non-conference road game since 2018.
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Nacho Abeal (F, Jr.), SIUE. Scored SIUE's lone goal in a 1-1 draw match at Memphis which was a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament matchup.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: This is the last full week of non-conference place as Conference action will start on Saturday, September 28 ... Western Illinois won 3-2 at Gonzaga on Sunday, marking its first road victory since October 2022 and its first non-conference road victory since October 2018 ... Lindenwood won at Utah Tech last week to increase its winning streak at that point to three games, a first during the program's Division I era ...In that game Jordan Matthews came off the bench in the final three minutes to score; it marked the second time in a three-match stretch that Lindenwood had scored the game-winner with under two minutes to play ... HCU had a pair of road draws last week, falling behind each time before coming back to win ... HCU's Alex Aitken had seven saves on the week to pull within seven saves of third-place on the HCU all-time leaderboard ... In a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament, SIUE played Memphis to a 1-1 draw ... Entering the week Liberty ranks 14th nationally in scoring offense (2.6 goals/game), SIUE ranks second in saves (6.4/game) and UIW is seventh in shot accuracy (55.6%).
Second Season of OVC Men's Soccer: This year marks the second season of OVC men's soccer, which was announced as the league's 19th sport in March 2023. Five OVC institutions currently field men’s soccer teams: Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SIUE, Southern Indiana and Western Illinois. In addition, Houston Christian (HCU), Incarnate Word (UIW) and Liberty are affiliate members, giving the OVC eight men’s soccer programs. This is the first year for WIU in the league (they competed in the Summit League last season).
All Teams Eligible for OVC Tournament: Both reclassifying teams, Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, are eligible to compete and win the OVC Tournament Championship this season. Should a transitioning school win an OVC Tournament Championship, the AQ shall be awarded to the tournament runner-up. Should the tournament runner-up also be a transitioning school, the AQ representative shall be the semifinalist that had the highest remaining seed going into the tournament.
SIUE Picked as 2024 OVC Preseason Favorite: Defending regular season and tournament champion SIUE was predicted the preseason favorite ahead of the 2024 OVC men's soccer season. The Cougars picked up 11 of 16 first-place votes and 95 points in the poll of league head coaches and communications directors. Liberty picked up three first-place votes and 79 points in being tabbed second, followed by UIW (67 points), Lindenwood (66) and HCU (59 points and the final two first-place votes). The poll was rounded out Eastern Illinois (36 points), newcomer Western Illinois (25) and Southern Indiana (21).
ESPN+: This year marks the sixth of the OVC’s media rights deal with ESPN to air games on ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer & International segment. This season over 200 men’s and women’s basketball regular season Conference games and non-conference games will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $10.99 a month (or $109.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($15.99/month). ESPN+ is an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices). More information can be found at www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.