• OVC Men’s Soccer Report – October 7 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Thursday, October 9
*Liberty at Southern Indiana, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Eastern Illinois at HCU, 7:00 p.m.
*SIUE at Lindenwood, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at UIW, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 12
*Lindenwood at Liberty, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Eastern Illinois at UIW, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at HCU, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*SIUE at Southern Indiana, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
CO-OFFENSIVE
Luca Bartoni, F • 6-1, Sr. • St. Louis, Mo. • Lindenwood
Bartoni recorded a goal and three assists in two matches last week, as Lindenwood won twice to improve to 3-0 in OVC play and reach the 10-win plateau overall. Against Eastern Illinois, he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 16th minute, a one-timer off a cross. He then went on to assist in both of the other goals in the match. In Sunday's win over Western Illinois, Bartoni assisted on the game-winning goal, which came four minutes into the second half. Bartoni ranks tied for fourth in the OVC in points (12).
CO-OFFENSIVE
Edin Cvorovic, F • 6-1, 175, Fr. • Fishers, Ind. • Southern Indiana
Cvorovic scored two goals and had an assist during the week as Southern Indiana posted a 1-0-1 record. In the team's 4-1 win over HCU (which was the largest margin of victory for the program in an OVC match), he scored the game's first goal in the 20th minute. He later assisted on a goal in the 65th minute. In Sunday's 2-2 draw with UIW, his goal in the 87th minute tied the match. Cvorovic is the first USI player to earn an OVC weekly honor in three years of league play.
Others Nominated: Evan Howard, SIUE; Edin Cvorovic, Southern Indiana; Benjamin Graham, Western Illinois.
DEFENSIVE
Luke Neely, D • 5-11, Jr. • Burlington, Wis. • Lindenwood
Neely helped key a defense that recorded a pair of shutouts during the week as the team improved to 3-0-0 in OVC play and 10-0-1 overall on the season. The junior played 165 minutes as the Lions beat Eastern Illinois (3-0) and Western Illinois (2-0). Overall the defense allowed just seven shots on goal of the 21 total taken by the two opponents.
Others Nominated: Bobby Pauly, SIUE.
GOALKEEPER
Gavin Roberts, GK • 6-2, Sr. • Florissant, Mo. • Lindenwood
Inserted into the lineup due to an injury, Roberts made the most of two starts during the week, recording a pair of shutouts as Lindenwood improved to 10-0-1 on the season. The senior had four saves in a victory over Eastern Illinois and added three stops against Western Illinois. Overall he faced 21 shots on the week. After the two clean sheets, Lindenwood has now won five-straight games via shutout.
Others Nominated: Alex Aitken, HCU; Noah Scheidweiler, SIUE; Jacob English, Southern Indiana.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Alex Aitken (GK, Sr.), HCU. Aitken had a career-best 12 saves in a 1-0 shutout of Liberty on Sunday. It marked the fifth shutout of the season for the senior, who is HCU's all-time leader with 22 victories in goal.
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Evan Howard (F, Sr.), SIUE. Howard's penalty kick goal in the ninth minute proved to be the game-winner as SIUE topped Eastern Illinois for its first OVC win of the season.
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Jacob English (GK, Fr.), Southern Indiana. English made 11 saves during the week as USI posted a 1-0-1 record. He had seven saves in the team's win over HCU.
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Bobby Pauly (D, Jr.), SIUE. Pauly helped lead a defense that allowed only one goal over two matches. The junior played 180 minutes and helped limit SIUE's opponents to 12 total shots.
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Benjamin Graham (MF, So.), Western Illinois. Graham scored the game-winning goal in the 80th minute as Western Illinois knocked off two-time defending OVC champion SIUE.
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Noah Scheidweiler (GK, Fr.), SIUE. Recorded first career shutout against Eastern Illinois. Made three saves in that match and four in the week for the Cougars.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: Lindenwood won a pair of matches last week to improve to 3-0 in OVC play and are now the only undefeated team in League action ... The Lions have won 10 matches this season, one of three teams nationally (Bryant and Stanford being the others) to reach that total entering the week ... The Lions have won five-straight games via shutout, the longest streak of its NCAA era ... Southern Indiana doubled its season goal total in a 4-1 victory over HCU last week; the three-goal victory was its largest in three years of OVC play and the largest for the team since a six-goal win in 2019 ... USI freshman Edin Cvorovic was named OVC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after two goals and an assist last week; he is the first USI player to earn an OVC weekly honor in the three-year history of OVC men's soccer ... HCU goalkeeper Alex Aitken had a career-high 12 saves as the Huskies beat Liberty 1-0 on Sunday night; it was the school's first win over Liberty in five tries ... For his career Aitken now has 275 saves and 17 shutouts (one away from tying the school record) ... Western Illinois defeated SIUE 1-0 last week to snap a five-game losing streak to the Cougars ... SIUE picked up its first OVC win of the season last week, knocking off Eastern Illinois on Sunday ... Nationally, Lindenwood ranks third in assists/game (3.18), goal differential (+26), shutout percentage (72.7%), goals against average (0.36) and save percentage (90.9%) and fourth in points/game (8.46) and scoring offense (2.73 goals/game), Liberty is eighth in shots on goal/game (7.36), UIW is ninth in save percentage (84.15), Southern Indiana is fourth in saves/game (6.10) and Eastern Illinois is sixth in saves/game (6.00) ... Lindenwood goalkeeper Quinn Closson is first nationally in save percentage (93.9%), second in goals against average (0.26) and sixth in shutouts (6).
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.