SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Liberty 6, Southern Indiana 1
@Western Illinois 1, Eastern Illinois 1
Lindenwood 2, @SIUE 0
LIBERTY 6, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Liberty Flames eased past the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles to begin Ohio Valley Conference action 6-1 on a rainy afternoon at Osborne Stadium.
Dominating play throughout the 90 minutes, the host Flames struck for four goals, while not allowing a shot attempt by USI during the first half.
Forward Zach Lifferth scored the first three Liberty goals of the contest, and midfielder Dylan Swinehart netted two goals for the Flames, one in each half. Forward Jayden Ramos also scored for Liberty in the contest.
With the win, the Flames end a two-game losing streak. Liberty moves to 1-0 in OVC play and 5-2-2 overall. USI drops to 0-1 in conference and 1-7-1 overall.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 1, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
MACOMB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois men's soccer both found the goal in the opening half but put up solid defense in the second half to open Ohio Valley Conference play with a 1-1 draw.
Western Illinois opened the scoring in the 10th minute on Liam Gainey's goal to the low left corner.
Casey Welage had his second goal of the season for Eastern Illinois to knot the match 1-1 with a goal in the 25th minute.
EIU moved to 1-4-2 on the season, 0-0-1 in the OVC.
WIU moved to 2-7-1 overall, 0-0-1 in the OVC.
LINDENWOOD 2, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Lindenwood Men's Soccer opened up Conference play with a win on Saturday evening at SIUE by a score of 2-0. The victory over the Cougars marks the program's first time doing so in the Division I era. The Lions were previously 0-5-1 against SIUE prior to tonight's matchup.
In the first half, the Lions were on the defensive side of the ball for most of the opening 45 minutes. SIUE earned five corner kicks, but Lindenwood's defense held firm, allowing just one blocked shot off those set pieces. The Cougars tallied seven total shots in the half, including three on target, all of which were saved by goalkeeper Quinn Closson.
Offensively, the Lions managed eight shots of their own, with two on goal. Matteo Landais had the best chance for Lindenwood as he slipped between two SIUE defenders and narrowly missed a shot that went wide right in the 11th minute. The Lions also earned a pair of corner kicks in the first half, but couldn't capitalize as the score would stay 0-0 at the break.
In the second half, SIUE played with 10 men for the final 34 minutes of the game as Archie McDonnell picked up his second yellow card of the contest. The Lions eventually came through late in the half as they scored two second half goals in the 77th and 89th minute to take control of the game. In the 77th minute, George Chandler delivered a great pass from just inside of midfield that landed right at the feet of Alander Soares. Soares gathered the ball and shot it low right past the Cougar goalkeeper to give the Lions the 1-0 lead.
Lindenwood added on to their lead in the final minute after a deflection off a free kick from SIUE created an odd man rush for the Lions. Ethan Blake received the ball downfield and sent a pass right to Gavin Csiszar, who was was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Csiszar controlled the pass from Blake, set his feet and delivered a strike to the back of the net for the 2-0 victory.
Lindenwood finished the game with 13 shots, five of which were on goal. Landais led the team in shots on goal with two, while Luca Bartoni had one shot on target. Defensively, the Lions limited SIUE to 13 shots as well, but only three were on goal.