THURSDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 7, @Chicago State 0
@Liberty 9, Regent 0
@Louisville 6,
Southern Indiana 0
@Northwestern 2,
Eastern Illinois 0
Western Illinois 1, @Butler 0
@UIW 1, Pacific 0
Florida Gulf Coast 2,
@SIUE 1
Drake
at HCU (cancelled)
LINDENWOOD 7, CHICAGO STATE 0
CHICAGO - Lindenwood Men's Soccer started off the season with a 7-0 shutout victory over Chicago State on Thursday afternoon with a big performance from Ethan Blake and the offense. With the win, it is the Lions' first season opening victory since 2017. The seven goals scored also ties for the most in the Division I era.
Lindenwood would set the tone early as Blake would open up the score in the 13th minute with a goal on an assist from Luca Bartoni. The Lions would take the one goal advantage into halftime finishing the half with seven shots. In the second half, the offense would explode for 15 shots and six goals.
In the 53rd minute, Leandro Haesler would execute a perfect pass from Lindenwood's goal line, hitting Ethan Blake in stride down the field as Blake would put it past the goalkeeper to put the Lions up by two early into the second half. Nine minutes later, Sebastia Cerda Tous would find the back of the net for his first goal as a Lion, receiving a pass from Ethan Blake across the right side of the field making it a 3-0 game. Blake would finish the contest with two goals and an assist, recording two shots on goal in 64 minutes played.
The Lions would add on to their lead in the 72nd minute as Jarred Hendricks scored on a cross pass from Matteo Landais. Lindenwood put three more goals on the board in a span of 10 minutes as Gavin Csiszar would score two goals in the 76th and 79th minute on assists from Jozef Palushaj and Landais. The final goal of the contest would come in the 86th minute as Luka Slankamenac would score an unassisted goal to give the Lions a 7-0 lead.
The newcomers for Lindenwood would contribute in a big way in the season opener as they combined for four assists and five goals. Matteo Landais finished the contest with two assists to lead the Lions in that category. The offense would record 22 shots in the contest with 13 of them being on goal. Defensively, the Lions allowed only five shots, with three saves coming from Quinn Closson.
LIBERTY 9, REGENT 0
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Liberty Flames erupted for eight goals in the second half on the way to a 9-0 win over the Regent Royals in their season opener Thursday at Osborne Stadium.
The nine goals were the most ever scored by an OVC team in a game.
Aidan Morrison and Sam Farner each scored two goals, as seven different Flames scored in the contest. Farner also had two assists for a career-high six points.
Liberty moves to 1-0 on the year, while Regent drops to 0-1.
LOUISVILLE 6, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer dropped the season opener 6-0 Thursday afternoon to the University of Louisville in USI's first regular-season matchup with a major conference opponent since transitioning to NCAA Division I.
The Screaming Eagles were unable to find success in the offensive half, not recording a shot on a staunch Cardinal's defense. USI's pair of goalkeepers made some miraculous plays, with Freshman Jacob English recording seven saves in his collegiate debut and Junior Kael McGowan recording six in relief.
Freshman defender Joaquin d'Escoto was given a red card 3:34 into the game, leaving the Eagles down a man for the remainder of the match. The teams traded attacks early, unable to find the back of the net for the first 20 minutes.
The Cardinals opened the floodgates with their first score coming in the 22nd minute, rolling into a second goal two minutes later, then the final goal of the half at 34:56. USI went into the half down 3-0. English recorded five of his saves in the first half, on eight Cardinals shots on goal.
Out of the halftime break, Louisville matched its first-half production, scoring its final three goals in the first 19 minutes of the half.
For Southern Indiana, the Eagles opened the game strong, forcing a few offensive opportunities before Louisville found its rhythm in the match. USI's defense dazzled at times, including a diving save from English and a beautiful slide tackle from freshman Kadiri Bello.
NORTHWESTERN 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
EVANSTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s soccer opened the 2025 season on Thursday evening falling 2-0 at Big Ten member Northwestern.
The Panthers played even with the Wildcats a majority of the match with Northwestern finally breaking through in the 68th minute with a goal by Peter Reisz.
Reisz would find the back of the net a second time in the 80th minute as part of his five shot evening.
EIU goalkeeper Franco Barba turned away nine Northwestern shots on goal.
The Panthers were kept out of the attack zone much of the evening finishing with two total shots and no official shots on goal.
Casey Welage and Shion Hayashi both recorded shots for EIU.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 1, BUTLER 0
INDIANAPOLIS - Western Illinois opened its 2025 campaign with a 1-0 victory at Butler. Benjamin Graham scored the game-winning goal in the 21st minute by tucking a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner after a setup from Xavier Gagnon.
Goalkeeper Micah Ramirez anchored the back line tremendously throughout the game. He stopped an early chance in the eighth minute and denied another effort in the 19th as Butler applied pressure in the opening half. WIU then created looks of its own throughout the first half, but the half ended at 1-0.
The Bulldogs had opportunities after halftime but could not get a goal against the Leathernecks. Ramirez turned aside a shot in the 52nd minute, and Western Illinois handled consecutive corners at 52:04 and 53:02 with active defense throughout.
Western Illinois showed resolve in the game's physical moments. Every time the Bulldogs threatened, there was an answer by the Leathernecks.
UIW 1, PACIFIC 0
SAN ANTONIO - UIW opened the 2025 season with a 1-0 shutout over Pacific.
Diego Robles scored the lone goal of the match in the 22nd minute, thanks to an assist from Giovanni Padilla.
Alejandro De La Torre made four saves in picking up the victory.
FLORIDA GULF COAST 2, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's soccer outshot Florida Gulf Coast 14-5 Thursday, but the Eagles' Caio Oliveria cashed in on two opportunities to lead FCGU to a 2-1 win over the Cougars on opening night at Korte Stadium.
It's only the second home loss for SIUE since the start of the 2023 season. It gives FGCU Head Coach Oliver Twelvetrees his first Division I head coaching win.
Oliveira's first strike came in the 18th minute when he unloaded a right foot from the top of the arc to the upper corner of the goal. The Eagles took the lead into halftime.
It looked as if SIUE had equalized in the 56th minute when Carles Zomeño fed Evan Howard into the box. Howard banged a shot off the cross bar from 12 yards away, keeping it 1-0 FGCU.
Oliveira doubled FGCU's lead in the 61st minute on a counterattack. Oliveira carried the ball from midfield down the left side and into the box all the way to the end line, where he slid it home past SIUE goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler for the 2-0 lead.
Zomeño got the Cougars on the board in the 76th minute when he headed home at the back post after a cross from Archie McDonnell. The goal was originally disallowed due to offside but upon review was determined to be good. It is as close as SIUE would get.
Zomeño and Ethan Hackenberg paced the Cougars with four shots apiece.
Scheidweiler made two saves in his SIUE debut. FGCU goalkeeper Oliver Weng made four saves.
The Cougars finished with seven corner kicks while not conceding a corner to the Eagles.