THURSDAY'S SCORES
Liberty 3, @VMI 0
Lindenwood 1, @Evansville 0
HCU 2, @UC San Diego 0
LIBERTY 3, VMI 0
LEXINGTON, Va. - The Liberty Flames fashioned their first road shutout of the season, downing the VMI Keydets 3-0 Thursday afternoon at Patchin Field.
After the match was delayed an hour due to lightning, the Flames quickly took control of the contest on Sam Farner's third goal of the season during the 10th minute of play. Later in the first half, Zach
Lifferth followed up a deflection of a shot by Kai Tamashiro for his first goal of the year as visiting Liberty took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
Leo Conneh, who had several shots turned away in the first half, broke through in the second half for his third goal of the season to close out the Flames' scoring.
The Liberty defense was solid throughout the contest, recording its second shutout of the year behind Tyler Beck, who made several solid saves.
Liberty remains unbeaten on the season, upping its record to 3-0-1. VMI drops to 1-3-1.
LINDENWOOD 1, EVANSVILLE 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team improved their record to 4-0 on the season after defeating the Purple Aces of Evansville on Thursday evening by a score of 1-0. The Lion defense limited Evansville to just two shots in the first half and nine total shots for the game.
After a scoreless first half, Evansville would threaten immediately in the 47th minute. Henrique Perestrelo would commit a foul just in front of the box giving the Purple Aces an opportunity early on in the second half. On the free kick, Evansville's Chase Ricker would record a shot on goal using his head off of a cross, but Quinn Closson would make an incredible diving save moving to his right to keep the game tied at zero as he knocked the ball over the net for a corner kick. Closson would finish the game with two saves, with his biggest save of the game being on the free kick.
12 minutes later, Evansville would commit a foul giving the Lions a free kick from the right side of the box. Noah Sapsford would take the free kick, sending a perfect cross pass across the box to Leandro Haesler, who would score on a header as he shot the ball passed the Purple Aces goalie to the top left corner of the goal. Haesler's first goal as a Lion at the 59th minute would be the game winning goal as the Lions would hang on to get the victory on the road. Evansville would record five more shots after the Lindenwood goal, with none of them being on target as the defense would force tough shot attempts. The defense has been stellar so far for the Lions, as they have limited their opponents to just one goal through four games.
HCU 2, UC SAN DIEGO 0
SAN DIEGO - Houston Christian University passed its first road test of the season, going into Triton Soccer Stadium and coming away with a 2-0 win over UC San Diego on Thursday night. It was the third clean sheet in the first four matches of the season for the Huskies
The Huskies were aggressive from the outset and kept the pressure on for the majority of the evening. Several good runs in the first half mounted to strong chances, two from D'Alessandro Herrera and one from Anis Harrar, all saved by UCSD keeper Nolan Premack. The two teams would settle for a well-played scoreless deadlock at the break.
In the second, HCU picked up right where it left off, pushing forward from the first whistle. In the 49th minute, the Huskies got their breakthrough, as Joby Reid picked up an errant pass in the final third and slotted home his first career score and put the visitors ahead.
The Huskies didn't sit back, continued to pepper the Tritons defense with seven more shots three on target over the next 25 minutes. With less than five minutes to play Ryan Okerayi was dragged down in the box, leading to a penalty where his effort from the spot was calmly placed home for a two-goal advantage as the Huskies raced to the finish line.
HCU posted its fourth straight match with double-figure shots, outshooting the Tritons 17-6 with an 8-3 edge on target. Herrera led the way with five shots, two on goal, while Okerayi and Reid each took three and scored once.
Alex Aitken, the school's leader in career saves, registered three more to highlight the third clean sheet in four for the Huskies.
UCSD, now 0-3-1, had just six shots, three on goal, one apiece from Cole Barrett, Liam Murdin and Kai Oppenheim. Nolan Premack put in a solid effort in the pipes, stopping six shots.
HCU is now 3-1-0 on the season.