• OVC Men’s Soccer Report – October 14 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Thursday, October 16
*Liberty at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Western Illinois, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
*HCU at SIUE, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*UIW at Lindenwood, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, October 19
*Liberty at Western Illinois, 11:00 a.m. (ESPN+)
*UIW at SIUE, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*HCU at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
OFFENSIVE
David Davila, F • 6-3, 165, So. • Elkhart, Ind. • Southern Indiana
Davila scored three goals over two matches last week, helping Southern Indiana to a pair of draws as the team extended its unbeaten streak to four. After USI had fallen behind 2-0 at Liberty, the sophomore found the back of the net in the 67th and 80th minute to tie the game. The Screaming Eagles once again fell behind 2-0 on Sunday to SIUE, and trailing 2-1 late in the game, Davila scored in the 74th minute to tie the match. Six of his eight shots during the week were on goal. His four goals in OVC play ranks second in the League. After not having won an OVC weekly honor in three seasons of OVC soccer, a USI player has won this award in back-to-back weeks.
Others Nominated: Fabricio Roberti, Eastern Illinois; D'Alessandro Herrera, HCU; Dom Bartoni, SIUE.
DEFENSIVE
Santiago Maynez, D • 5-10, 150, Fr. • El Paso, Texas • HCU
Maynez played 169 minutes over two matches, helping HCU to a pair of shutout victories as the team moved into a tie for first place in the OVC standings. The freshman paced a strong backline that allowed just seven shots on target in 25 attempts. He played a full 90 minutes in Sunday's 1-0 win over Western Illinois, after playing 79 minutes in a 3-0 win over Eastern Illinois.
Others Nominated: Yuki Nakamura, Eastern Illinois; Perry Blay, Liberty.
GOALKEEPER
Alex Aitken, GK • 6-0, 180, Sr. • Great Barford, England • HCU
Aitken recorded a pair of clean sheets last week, increasing his career total to 19, which made him the all-time leader in HCU history. The senior made five saves in a 3-0 win over Eastern Illinois to start the week and added two stops in Sunday's 1-0 win over Western Illinois, increasing his career total to 282. Aitken now has seven shutouts on the season.
Others Nominated: Lucas Ortiz, Eastern Illinois; Tyler Beck, Liberty; Gavin Roberts, Lindenwood.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Perry Blay (D, Jr.), Liberty. Played 180 minutes over two matches last week as Flames were 1-0-1. Helped team top previously unbeaten Lindenwood.
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D'Alessandro Herrera (MF, Sr.), HCU. Had a goal and two assists as HCU posted a 2-0-0 record. Both assists came in win over EIU, and he then put home the game-winner vs. WIU.
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Dom Bartoni (F, R-Fr.), SIUE. Netted first career goal on Sunday at Southern Indiana.
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Fabricio Roberti (D, Sr.) Eastern Illinois. Scored the game-winning goal as EIU won at UIW for its first OVC win of the season.
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Tyler Beck (GK, So.), Liberty. Recorded fourth shutout of the season in 1-0 win over previously unbeaten Lindenwood. Made four saves in that win, including key stop with 17 seconds remaining to win the game.
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Gavin Roberts (GK, Sr.), Lindenwood. Made 15 saves over two matches, including posting a shutout in a draw with SIUE.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: Entering the week HCU, Liberty and Lindenwood are tied atop the OVC standings with identical 3-1-1 records (10 points) ... Lindenwood suffered its first loss on the season on Sunday, 1-0 at Liberty; Leo Conneh scored in the 59th minute to lift Liberty to the victory ... Southern Indiana snapped a 10-game losing streak to SIUE on Sunday, overcoming a two-goal deficit to tie the Cougars 2-2 ... USI is 1-0-3 over its last four matches, its first four-game streak without a loss since the 2021 season; over that stretch the Screaming Eagles have scored 10 goals, the most-ever for the team over four games since returning to Division I ... HCU goalkeeper Alex Aitken now has 282 career saves and recorded his 19th shutout on Sunday against WIU to move into first place in school history (passing Benny Agosto's mark of 18 from 1981-84).
Lifferth Sets OVC Record For Points in a Game, Ties Mark for Goals: Liberty senior
Zach Lifferth set a new OVC single match record with seven points (3 goals, 1 assist) in his team's 6-1 win over Southern Indiana on September 27. His three goals tied the OVC record (held by three others) and came on his first three shots of the game, all in the first half.
UIW Knocks Off No. 18 SMU: UIW scored a 2-1 victory over No. 18 ranked SMU on September 8. UIW scored in the 14th minute and led 1-0 until SMU tied the match on a penalty kick in the 79th minute. Eight minutes later Noe Robles scored a goal off an assist from Giovanni Padilla to lift the Cardinals to the victory.
Liberty Sets OVC Single Match Record for Goals: Liberty scored nine goals (eight in the second half) in a season-opening victory over Regent on August 21. It broke the previous OVC record of eight goals set by Lindenwood in 2023 (vs. UHSP).
Third Season of OVC Men's Soccer: This year marks the third 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.
2025 OVC Tournament: The 2025 OVC Men's Soccer Championship will be held on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri for the first time. The top six seeds make the field, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds getting byes to the semifinals. The eight OVC men's soccer teams are divided into two scheduling pods, with each team playing the other teams in its pod twice during the season, and teams in the other pod once. The tournament format gives the winner of each pod a first round tournament bye. Seeds 3-6 are based on total points, regardless of scheduling pod.
All Teams Eligible for Postseason Play: Lindenwood and Southern Indiana completed their reclassification to Division I this past summer and are now eligible for NCAA Tournament berths. The two schools finished the transition in a new expediated three-year timeline.
SIUE Picked as 2025 OVC Preseason Favorite: Two-time defending regular season and tournament champion SIUE was predicted the preseason favorite for the 2025 OVC men's soccer season. The Cougars, who claimed both championships during each the 2023 and 2024 seasons, picked up 14 of 16 first-place votes and 98 points in the poll of league head coaches and communications directors. SIUE is 17-1-2 in Conference play in the first two years of men's soccer in the OVC. HCU, who lost to SIUE in double overtime in last year's tournament title game, picked up the other two first-place votes and 69 points in being tabbed second. They were followed by Lindenwood (67), Liberty (64), UIW (55), Western Illinois (39), Eastern Illinois (38) and Southern Indiana (18).
UTRGV to Join OVC as Men's Soccer Affiliate in 2026: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) will join the OVC as a men's soccer affiliate beginning with the 2026 season. The addition of Vaqueros gives the OVC its third men’s soccer institution in the state of Texas. Located in Edinburg, Texas, the program spent 10 seasons in the WAC before becoming an Independent for the 2025 season.
ESPN+: The OVC has a 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. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $11.99 a month (or $119.99 per year) as part of the ESPN Select Plan or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu. ESPN+ is an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices). More information can be found at www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.