SUNDAY'S SCORES
UIW 2, @Southern Indiana 2
@SIUE 1, Eastern Illinois 0
@Lindenwood 2, Western Illinois 0
HCU 1, @Liberty 0
UIW 2, SOUTHERN INDIANA 2
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer and the University of the Incarnate Word battled to a 2-2 tie Sunday at Strassweg Field. The Screaming Eagles go to 2-7-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the OVC, while the Cardinals go to 4-3-4, 0-1-2 OVC.
USI fell behind in the opening minutes after an Eagle foul in the box led to a UIW penalty kick at 3:18 and a 1-0 deficit. The Eagles had their chance during the opening half despite trailing 8-6 in shots and 4-2 in shots on goal.
In the second half, USI got the equalizer on a goal by sophomore forward David Davila off a pass from sophomore midfielder/back Ahiro Nakamae. The goal was Davila's second of the season.
After UIW regained the lead, 2-1, on a goal at 79:53, USI freshman forward Edin Cvorovic knotted the match back up, 2-2, with a tally at 86:54. Cvorovic posted his second goal of the season from 10 yards out in the box after receiving passes from freshman forward Tony Murphy and Davila.
The final minutes would count down on the clock with UIW getting one more shot with 23 seconds left and the final buzzer.
UIW finished the game with a slight lead in shots, 14-12, and corner kicks, 6-3. USI freshman goalkeeper Jacob English faced six shots on-goal, making four saves.
SIUE 1, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - – Evan Howard's ninth-minute penalty kick stood and SIUE men's soccer finished off Eastern Illinois for a 1-0 win Sunday at Korte Stadium.
SIUE snapped a seven-game losing streak to improve to 1-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 2-8 overall. Eastern Illinois fell to 1-6-2 overall and 0-2-1 I league play.
Howard Earned the penalty kick after his shot was blocked out of a play for a corner kick. On the corner, Howard was wrapped up just outside the six-yard box resulting in the foul and the penalty. Howard's shot was hard drive low and to the right of EIU goalkeeper Lucas Ortiz.
The goal was the sixth of the year for Howard, which ties him for the lead in the OVC.
Howard finished with two shots on goal and three overall. Carles Zomeño had two shots and both were on target.
Overall SIUE outshot EIU 12-7. It marked the second consecutive game the SIUE defense has surrendered fewer than 10 shots from its opponent.
Noah Scheidweiler made three saves to secure his first career shutout.
LINDENWOOD 2, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood Men's Soccer (10-0-1, 3-0-0 OVC) improved to 6-0 at home on Sunday afternoon, blanking the Western Illinois Leathernecks by a score of 2-0. The Lions posted their fifth straight shutout victory, which is the most consecutive shutouts in a row in the NCAA era.
In the opening half, both defenses played well as Lindenwood allowed three total shots while recording six of their own on offense.The Leatherneck defense caused some trouble for the Lions, as all six shots were either blocked or off target. Gavin Roberts got his second straight start in goal for the Lions, stopping the only shot on target that he faced in the first half, and would finish the game with three saves en route to his second straight cleansheet.
Similar to Thursday's game at Eastern Illinois, the Lions would seize control of the contest with two second half goals coming from Sebastia Cerda Tous and Gavin Csiszar. Five minutes into the second half, Matteo Landais sent a cross pass towards the box off of a throw in from Luke Neely. On the cross, the ball landed near Luca Bartoni who found Cerda Tous on the back side of the Leatherneck defense for the first goal of the game to put the Lions in front 1-0. Later in the half, Henrique Perestrelo would be taken down inside the box by a WIU defender, which gave the Lions a penalty kick opportunity in the 72nd minute. Gavin Csiszar took the Lion's second penalty kick of the season, and cashed in on the opportunity as the Leatherneck goalkeeper went right, but Csiszar went middle to extend the lead to 2-0.
HCU 1, LIBERTY 0
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Houston Christian University got a career-night from Alex Aitken to gain a huge three points on the road as it posted a 1-0 blanking of Liberty University on Sunday night at Osborne Stadium. Aitken went for a career-high 12 saves and became HCU's all-time leader in victories, helping the Huskies bounce back in a monumental way from Thursday night and finish off a month-long trek away from home.
The two teams wasted no time getting into a good pace. The Flames opened things up with a run down the left side by Leo Conneh, whose shot was gobbled up by Alex Aitken just 1:23 into the match. Just into the 11th minute, it was the Huskies' turn, hitting Ryan Okerayi down the middle of the pitch where his shot from 12 yards out was knocked aside by Tyler Beck.
Sam Farner got another solid chance just shy of 20 minutes in, lacing a shot right into the arms of Aitken. Ron Pressler came on late in the half and had a couple of good looks for the Huskies four minutes apart, but could get neither to go. The Flames would put two more on target over the final eight minutes of the half, both saved by Aitken to preserve the scoreless deadlock at the break.
HCU came out of the intermission aggressive and earned two consecutive corner kicks. On the second, Ben Thirkill's outswing was met by Nico Kross with a shot off his left shoulder that rifled past the leaping Beck and into the top left corner, breaking the ice and giving the Huskies a 1-nil advantage just under four minutes into the second session.
The action ramped up even more following the goal, as the Flames looked to equalize and the Huskies sought after their second. Liberty peppered the pipes continuously and as the clock hit the 66th minute, Zach Lifferth laced a shot from the edge of the six right into the grill of Aitken, who batted it away. With 15 minutes remaining, Aitken made a spectacular one-handed stab of a left-footed blast by Elijah Joe at the top of the 18-yard box before making three more saves in the final minute to preserve the win.
HCU was outshot 17-10 and the Flames put 12 of their shots on target to just five for the Huskies. HCU earned eight corners, including the most important one of the match in the 49th minute that produced the lone goal of the contest by Kross.
Ryan Okerayi had four of HCU's 10 shots, and put three of them on target. Liberty (6-3-2, 2-1-0 OVC) was led by Adian Morrison, Sam Farner and Dylan Swinehart, each of whom had two shots on goal. Tyler Beck made four saves for the Flames.
Alex Aitken was magnificent on this night, making a career-high 12 saves for his fifth clean sheet of the campaign. It was his 22nd career victory for the Huskies, pushing him past Christopher Dodd for the top spot in program history.
The win pushes HCU to 6-3-1 overall and evened the OVC ledger at 1-1-1, a fine way to conclude a season-long five-game stretch away from Sorrels Field that saw the Huskies go 2-2-1.