Ohio Valley Conference

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Three first-half goals propelled the Liberty Flames past the USC Upstate Spartans 3-1, Sunday evening at Osborne Stadium.

Defender Lucas Kelly scored the Flames' first two goals, and Kai Tamashiro netted his first goal of the season right before halftime to give Liberty a 3-0 lead after one half of play.

In the second, the Flames' defense held the Spartans' attack in check until late to come away with the victory.

Liberty moves to 2-0 on the season. USC Upstate drops to 0-1-1.

QUINCY 1, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois men's soccer suffered a heartbreaking defeat Sunday evening, falling 1–0 to Quincy on a goal scored in the last seconds of regulation. After nearly 90 minutes of even play, the Hawks struck at the 89:50 mark, leaving the Leathernecks no time to respond and forcing them to walk off the field stunned.

Despite the result, Western Illinois put together one of its most competitive performances of the young season. The Leathernecks controlled long stretches of the match, outshooting Quincy 17–14 and forcing the Hawks' goalkeeper into nine saves. Western Illinois generated multiple opportunities to score but could not find the finishing touch.

Benjamin Graham was among the most active players on the attacking side, registering three shots and consistently testing the Hawks' back line. Off the bench, Alexis Beltran and Jack Schwering provided an additional spark, combining for eight attempts. There were opportunities, but Quincy's defense held firm until its offense delivered the decisive moment at the opposite end.

The loss drops Western Illinois to 1–1–0 on the season after their 1-0 victory against Butler earlier this week.

UIC 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHICAGO - Eastern Illinois men’s soccer suffered a Sunday night set back as the Panthers lost 4-0 at UIC.

Edouard Nys scored the first of his two first half goals just 1:58 into the contest.  He would follow up with a second goal in the 32nd minute.

A Darrell Turcios goal just 20 seconds before halftime lifted the Flames to a 3-0 advantage at the break.

EIU would collect six of its nine shots in the match in the second half.  Ben Griffis had four of the shots with three being on goal.

Rafael Lara had three total shots for the Panthers with two of them on target as UIC goalkeeper Owen Cornell made five saves for the clean sheet.

Sebastian_Khoury picked up the final UIC goal in the 70th minute as the Flames improved to 2-0 on the season.

EIU dropped to 0-2 on the year.  

DRAKE 2, UIW 1
SAN ANTONIO - UIW gave up two first half goals and could not complete the comeback on Sunday night against Drake. 

Drake scored in the 17th and 29th minute to go ahead 2-0.  Noe Robles put the lone UIW (1-1) goal on the board in the 76th minute.

Alejando De La Torre made six saves for UIW.

HCU 4, PACIFIC 0
HOUSTON - Houston Christian University broke open a tight game at the half with three second-half goals en route to a 4-0 rout of University of Pacific at Sorrels Field on Sunday evening. The Huskies got scores from four different players and a clean sheet from Alex Aitken in the delayed season opener.
 
The Huskies took a better part of the first half to settle in before opening its account in the 37th minute. Anis Harrar hit Joby Reid who nicked a soft touch to a cutting D'Alessandro Herrera. The senior got on his left foot just outside the area, lacing a missile to the right of the net for a 1-0 lead.
 
HCU then opened things up not long into the second frame. Again it was Reid with an assist, this time dropping off a pass to Ricardo Garcia, who had a go from long range straightaway that found the top of the net for a two-nil advantage.
 
Another 15 minutes passed with HCU still looking for more. In the 75th minute, a long lead pass by Ben Calder hit Ron Pressler for a nick to Ryan Okerayi springing to open field. The junior would slot home his first of the season to give the Huskies a comfortable 3-0 margin.
 
One more found its way to the scoreboard in the 81st minute, as Ron Pressler took a long pass on the left side from Nico Kross in the defensive end, got back into the middle of the field and launched a right-footed screamer for the fourth goal of the evening.
 
The four goals in the opener were the most in a season opener since scoring a handful in a 5-1 win over Oral Roberts in 2012. It was the first time to have four different goal scorers since a 4-1 win over Eastern Illinois in 2023.

Okerayi led the offensive fireworks with four of HCU's 15 total shots on the evening and he along with Herrera found the back of the net for the 13th time in their respective careers. Joby Reid had two assists in his debut for the club, one of six total helpers on the evening for the Huskies.
 
Alex Aitken moved closer to the top of the career leaderboard for shutouts, posting his 13th career clean sheet while making four saves. Nico Kross and Anis Harrar aided Aitken with solid 90-minute outings on the defensive side.
 
Pacific (1-1) had seven shots, just four on goal on the evening. Mateus Ruiz-Hurst had five saves.