TUESDAY'S SCORES
Western Illinois 2, @IU Indy 1
@#12 Clemson 1,
Liberty 0
@Bowling Green 5,
Eastern Illinois 0
WESTERN ILLINOIS 2, IU INDY 1
INDIANAPOLIS - Western Illinois University Men's Soccer is on an absolute tear, as they entered a Tuesday night matchup with the IU Indianapolis Jaguars having won four of their last five matches. The Leathernecks continued the hot streak with a convincing 2-1 victory over IU Indy, their third consecutive win.
Jimmy Baars, who was named OVC Offensive Player of the Week earlier on Tuesday, gave the Leathernecks their first chance of the match as he found open space and attempted a shot from 25 yards out that was calmly saved.
Leatherneck starting keeper Alexis Michaud, who earned OVC Goalkeeper of the Week honors for his effort against NIU, kept a clean sheet in the first half with two saves, including one in the fifth minute to keep the Jaguars off the board early.
In the tenth minute, left-back Leevi Swearengen made a great run off the touchline, off of an incredible deep pass from Joel McIntyre. Swearengen cut inside and then fired a shot, but the Jaguar keeper made a great save to knock it out for a corner. WIU had two straight corner kicks but did not capitalize on the attempts.
Baars had another great attempt in the 20th minute but his attempt was also saved as the nil-nil score held.
The Leathernecks made four subs in the 31st, bringing on Benjamin Graham at right back, and swapping out the whole front three, as Liam Gainey, Tyler Philpott, and Diego Porras all entered. They immediately injected some life into the Leatherneck offense, as WIU scored a pair of goals in 57 seconds.
In the second, Micah Ramirez swapped for Michaud in between the sticks. Western started things off in the second half with a couple of chances, as Tyler Philpott fired a shot that was saved out for a corner, but WIU didn't add a third goal on the try.
The Western Illinois defense held strong through the first 31 minutes of the second half before the Jaguars got one back, making things interesting late. They nearly equalized in the 84th but a heroic save from Ramirez kept the Leathernecks in front until the final whistle.
Moving to 5-3-1 on the year, Dr. Eric Johnson has his Leathernecks off to their best start through nine games since 2008, when they started the season with six consecutive victories. The last time Western won three games in a row was back in 2019, when the Leathernecks took home a share of the Summit League title, and the last time WIU won five of six was 2016.
#12 CLEMSON 1, LIBERTY 0
CLEMSON, S.C. - The No. 12 Clemson Tigers downed the Liberty Flames 1-0 Tuesday night in a weather-shortened game at Historic Riggs Field.
The contest was affected twice by the weather. The start of the match was delayed an hour as a thunderstorm moved through the area and later, the match was halted, then made final in the 74th minute due to lightning and inclement weather.
Host Clemson scored the game’s only goal during the 21st minute. Midfielder Misei Yoshizawa scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Tigers the advantage.
Liberty goalkeeper Owen Moore made several outstanding saves in the first half and finished the match with six saves.
Liberty drops to 2-3-1. Clemson moves to 5-1-2.
BOWLING GREEN 5, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Eastern Illinois men's soccer team (1-4-1, OVC 0-0-0) fell 5-0 to Bowling Green University (7-1-1, MVC 2-0-0) on Tuesday night, September 24. The Panthers begin OVC action this weekend as they travel to Southern Indiana at 1pm on Saturday afternoon.
Due to a change in the forecast, Tuesday nights action was pushed back and moved to an alternate location. The contest took place at the Rossford Dome with game time beginning just before 8pm.
The Falcons found momentum early in the first half, scoring four goals before the halfway mark. Bowling Green forward Trace Terry scored the match's first goal off a free kick in the 15' minute. BGSU was able to capitalize again at the 25' minute mark as Kyle Cusimano found the upper right hand corner of the net. The Bowling Green offense did not stop, scoring two additional goals within 31 seconds of each other. Terry finished the night with 2 goals for the Falcons. BGSU's final goal came in the 58' minute of the second half.
Redshirt senior Kyce Toutanji received the start in goal for the Panthers, marking his second start of the 2024 season. Toutanji was relieved in the second half by redshirt freshman Lucas Ortiz, marking his first appearance of the year. Ortiz finished the match with seven saves.
EIU was outshot on the offensive end 40-5, logging just three shots on goal of their own. The defense stayed aggressive, finishing the night with 12 fouls.