THURSDAY'S SCORES
Liberty 2, @Eastern Illinois 2
Southern Indiana 1, @Western Illinois 1
@SIUE 1, HCU 0
@Lindenwood 2, UIW 0
LIBERTY 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s soccer played at home at Lakeside Field for just the second time this season with the Panthers posting OVC points for the second straight match.
EIU played to a 2-2 draw with OVC co-leader Liberty on Thursday afternoon moving EIU to 2-7-3 overall, 1-3-2 in the OVC. Liberty moved to 7-3-4 overall, 3-1-2 in the OVC.
Shion Hayashi put the Panthers on board first taking advantage of penalty kick in the 18th minute.
Liberty responded just five minutes before the intermission as Spencer Moler scored on a header sent into the box on a free kick started by Elijah John.
The Flames continued to apply offensive pressure early in the second half scoring just 2:35 into the second half on a Zach Lifferth goal during a scrum in the middle of the goal box. Moler and Casey McCarthy were credited with the assists.
EIU was able to counter in the 52nd minute as Yuki Nakamura flicked ahead a ball to Casey Welage who scored his third goal of the season for the equalizer.
Both goalkeepers were active during the match with EIU’s Lucas Ortiz posting six saves and Liberty’s Tyler Beck recording seven.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 1, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1
MACOMB, Ill. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer recorded its first road result of the season with a 1-1 draw against Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, on Thursday afternoon.
The Screaming Eagles extended their unbeaten streak to five games, which ties the longest since the 2019 season. Over the streak, the team has tallied 11 goals, the most in any five-game stretch since returning to Division I.
The Leathernecks came out of the gate hot. They snuck one into the Eagles' goal less than two minutes into the match. Following the first goal, the two teams battled defensively and held each other scoreless for the rest of the first 45.
At halftime, USI trailed Western Illinois 1-0. The Eagles recorded three shots, all on goal. Sophomore David Davila, along with freshman duo Edin Cvorovic and Joaquin d'Escoto, tallied the team's shots on goal, but the Leathernecks' goalkeeper stopped each.
USI came out of the break firing, tying the game in the 58th minute as Cvorovic found Davila in the box for the team's first goal. The Eagles' defense stifled the Leathernecks for the entire second half, limiting them to five shots with three on goal.
In the match, USI was outshot 10-8 and 6-5 on goal, while also trailing in corners 7-6. Corovic's assist to Davila was the only one in the match. Between the posts, freshman Jacob English nabbed a game-high five saves, while only allowing a single goal.
SIUE 1, HCU 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Zach Renz netted his first career goal and SIUE men's soccer took all three points from league-leading Houston Christian Thursday at Korte Stadium.
The Cougars, who are unbeaten in four straight games, improved to 2-2-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 3-8-2 overall. HCU dropped to 3-2-1 in the OVC and 8-4-1 overall.
With the win, SIUE moved to fourth in the OVC standings.
Renz's goal came after a free kick in the 85th minute. Carles Zomeño lifted a free kick to the back post, where it was headed by Hugo Cornish, before Renz made a sliding play for the goal.
HCU outshot SIUE 15-9 in the game. The Huskies had five shots on goal, but Noah Scheidweiler made all five saves to pick up his third shutout in four games.
LINDENWOOD 2, UIW 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood Men's Soccer got back into the win column on Thursday evening as they defeated Incarante Word by a score of 2-0 at Hunter Stadium. The Lions came out of the gates slow in the first half as they took four shots in the opening 45 minutes of play, but got things going late in the first half that carried over into the second half to pick up three points in the OVC standings.
With less than three minutes to go in the first half, Gavin Csiszar fired a shot from just outside of the box that would be blocked by a Cardinal defender. On the blocked shot, the ball bounced straight up into the air that allowed for Josh Francombe to settle underneath of it to make a play. As the ball came down, Francombe sent a header towards the box where Ethan Blake was all alone. Blake fired a one-timer off the header from Francombe and sent the shot just far enough outside of the reach of the UIW goalkeeper to give the Lions the 1-0 lead heading into the locker room.
In the second half, Lindenwood exploded for 14 shots while recording six on goal. In the 73rd minute, Luca Bartoni tried to send a cross pass to Gavin Csiszar, who was streaking down the middle of the field. The initial pass was denied by the Cardinal defender, however the ball bounced right back to Bartoni would wouldn't be denied a second time, hitting Alander Soares who was trailing Csiszar. Soares shot the ball across his body immediately after receiving the pass from Bartoni and beat the UIW goalkeeper to the top of the net to extend the Lindenwood lead to 2-0.
The score would hold for the remainder of the game as the Lions picked up their 11th win of the season, which ties their win total from a season ago. After being out shot 7-4 in the first half, the Lindenwood defense locked the Cardinals down in the second half, allowing just 4 shots by the UIW offense. Gavin Roberts had another solid performance in goal, recording four saves and picking up his fourth shutout of the year as the back line for Lindenwood allowed 11 shots total for the game.