THURSDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 3, @Eastern Illinois 0
@Western Illinois 1, SIUE 0
@Liberty 2, UIW 1
@Southern Indiana 4, HCU 1
LINDENWOOD 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team picked up their second Ohio Valley Conference win of the season on Thursday afternoon as they defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers by a score of 3-0 behind a four-point performance from Luca Bartoni. With the victory, the Lions improve to 2-0 in the OVC for the first time since joining the conference back in 2023.
The first half saw Lindenwood have three quality chances within the first 15 minutes of action. Matteo Landais received a pass off the foot of Josh Francombe for an open look at the goal in the 8th minute. Landais made a move around the Panther defender and sent a shot just wide of the goal as the game remained tied at 0. Seven minutes later, the Lions got on the board on their second quality chance of the contest. Bruno Fornes sent a pass wide to the right side of the field to a running Landais. Landais sent a cross pass in stride off the pass from Fornes and found Luca Bartoni who tapped it in the back of the net to give Lindenwood the 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. Immediately after the goal was scored, Bartoni had another great chance to score his second goal of the game, but the 6'1 Senior didn't put enough on the shot as the EIU goalkeeper would make a diving save to keep the Panthers down one. Gavin Roberts got the start in net for the Lions, and recorded two first half saves on seven total shots from EIU, as the score would remain 1-0 at the break.
In the second half, Lindenwood added two more goals in the 58th and 63rd minute to take command of the game. Maxime Legai scored his first goal of the season in the 58th minute after Luca Bartoni received a pass downfield to create a two-on-one opportunity for the Lions. Bartoni got deep into the box and passed it across the field to a wide open Legai to extend the Lion lead to 2-0. Five minutes later, Bartoni recorded his second assist of the game as he went around an EIU defender and found Jozef Palushaj in the middle of the box for Palushaj's first goal of the season and the Lions third goal of the game.
Lindenwood's defense posted it's seventh shutout of the season and allowed 13 shots in the game, with only four being on goal. Gavin Roberts stopped all four shots on goal to pick up his first clean sheet of the season.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 1, SIUE 0
MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois University wins its first game in conference play 1-0 against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville on Thursday afternoon in Macomb, IL.
The Leathernecks struggled early offensively, ending the first half of the game with zero shot attempts. Despite the first half slump, the Leathernecks came out in the second half aggressively offensively. Red Shirt Junior Jack Schwering set the pace with the first shot attempt of the game by the Leathernecks at the 47-minute mark to start the second half. Sophomore Bruce Harris followed with the Leathernecks' second shot of the match at the 50-minute mark. After going back and forth with SIUE, Sophomore Defender/Middle Fielder Benjamin Graham scored the first goal of the game at the 80-minute mark of the match. Finishing strong, the Leathernecks beat the Cougars 1-0, advancing to 1-0-1 in conference play.
After a close loss to the undefeated Lindenwood Lions last week, the Cougars came out of the gates on fire, outshooting the Leathernecks in the first half 6-0. Senior Forward Evan Howard and Junior Forward Hugo Cornish both lead the Cougars with three shot attempts apiece. Outshooting the Leathernecks 13-5 in the close-fought match, the Cougars lost the second-half battle in the final 10 minutes.
LIBERTY 2, UIW 1
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Liberty Flames scored two goals early in the second half and then held off a late charge by the Incarnate Word Cardinals for a 2-1 victory in an Ohio Valley Conference match Thursday evening at Osborne Stadium.
After a scoreless first half, the host Flames jumped on the scoreboard minutes into the second half on a goal by Ben Carman. Later, Liberty made it 2-0, as the reigning OVC Offensive Player of the Week, Zach Lifferth, scored during the 70th minute.
The visiting Cardinals tried to mount a comeback and cut the Flames' advantage to 2-1 off a free kick during the 78th minute, but were held in check the rest of the way.
Defensively, Liberty forced the Cardinals outside the 18-yard box for shots, holding UIW to only one shot on goal in the contest.
With the win, Liberty moves to 2-0 in OVC play and 6-2-2 overall.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 4, HCU 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer wins its first Ohio Valley Conference contest of the season, 4-1, against Houston Christian University at Strassweg Field Thursday night.
This decisive win marked the team's largest positive goal differential since a 6-0 victory over Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2019. Additionally, the four goals scored were the most for USI since the 2023 season finale against Lindenwood University.
USI came out of the gate on fire, dominating the offensive half of the field. The Eagles opened the scoring in the 20th minute of the match, as freshman Tony Murphy connected with freshman Edin Cvorovic for the first goal of the game and Cvorovic's first of his career.
The Eagles kept the pressure on the Huskies, as junior Will Kirchhofer gathered the ball at midfield, finding sophomore Ahiro Nakamae up the sidelines, who then found Murphy in the box for his second goal of the season. USI led 2-0 for the first time this season.
USI was not done for the first 45, freshman Gian Colassaco found freshman Nolan Stevens open outside of the box for the final score of the half. USI went into the break up 3-0, despite being behind in total shots, nine to seven.
In the first half, Southern Indiana tallied five shots on goal compared to Houston Christian's four. Freshman Jacob English made four impressive saves, including a diving grab in the 36th minute, helping preserve USI's lead.
The second half saw the Houston Christian defense tighten, limiting USI's opportunities. The Eagles capitalized on a 65th-minute free kick from Cvorovic, who found junior Pablo Juan open in the box for a fourth team goal, putting them up 4-0.
The Huskies battle back late, sneaking one into the net at 70:50 to cut the lead to three. HCU had multiple opportunities late in the game, but failed to capitalize. English made some miraculous saves late in the match, keeping Houston Christian from gaining momentum.
For the game, USI was outshot 24-10 and 8-6 on goal despite the season high in goals scored. Nine different Eagles recorded shots, with five on goal, a season high in both. The Huskies were able to force 10 corner kicks compared to the Eagles' four. English tallied seven saves on the night, three in the second half, compared to the two by HCU goalkeepers.