The University of the Incarnate Word men's soccer team 4-6-2 (3-2-1) rallied in a dramatic comeback win against Eastern Illinois 3-7-3 (2-3-1), scoring twice in the final three minutes of the match to secure a 2-1 victory on Thursday. Knox Hick's delivered the game-winner with just nine seconds remaining, moving the Cardinals into second place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.
In the 37th minute, Eastern Illinois connected on a corner to take a 1-0 lead heading into halftime. The Cardinals took five shots in the opening half while the Panthers totaled 11 shots, forcing Victor Salmeron to make five saves.
Incarnate Word continued to search for the equalizer after the break, finally breaking through in the 87th minute. Diego Robles found the back of the net off an assist from Dorian Gardi, marking his third consecutive game with a game-tying goal. Robles' eighth goal of the season also puts him atop the OVC in goals.
Looking for more than a draw, Hicks delivered the game-winner with just nine seconds remaining, slotting the ball to the left of the goalkeeper. Giovanni Padilla recorded the assist on the late goal, completing the Cardinals' dramatic comeback and stunning the Panthers.
With the win, Incarnate Word moves into second place in the OVC standings, pending the remaining results from Thursday's conference slate.
MACOMB, Ill. - Houston Christian University secured a huge three points as it took a 3-0 victory over Western Illinois University in a misty matinee at John Mackenzie Alumni Field Thursday afternoon. The Huskies scored just out of the half to break a scoreless deadlock, then put two on the board in the final five minutes to seal the road result.
The two teams played it close to the vest in the first 45 minutes, with WIU holding a 6-3 lead in shots but just one apiece coming on goal. The Huskies then came out aggressively to start the second frame, peppering the posts with four shots in the first seven minutes, the final coming from Marcos Moore. A fine centering pass from Andrew Dillett found Moore racing to the box, and his neat toe poke slipped past the keeper to break the ice, giving HCU a one-nil advantage with just over 52 minutes gone.
Western would then hit back putting four shots up over the next few minutes. Xavier Gagnon's attempt was parried away by Harvey Heeps in the 55th minute. Heeps would come through again in the 69th minute, handling a shot by Jack Schwering to keep the Leathernecks off the board.
In the 86th minute, the Huskies doubled their lead on an own goal. Heeps played a long goal kick down the field where it found Clarenns Sainrimat racing down the channel. Sainrimat's shot would bounce off the post but then was clipped home by a defender to put HCU up 2-0.
An extra bit of insurance was added just three moments later. Again it was Heeps with a long punt downfield where Ryan Okerayi won possession and outdueled the defense towards the box. He laid off a nice feed to Aiden Lopez, who slotted home the third goal of the afternoon for the Huskies that finished things off.
The two teams ended up tied in both shots (14) and shots on goal (4), but the Huskies made the most of their attempts in earning a strong bounceback win and much-needed three points after a tough home weekend. The trio of goals put on the scoreboard marked a season-high in a game for the Huskies.
Marcos Moore corralled his third goal of the season to tie Ryan Okerayi for the team lead. Aiden Lopez put home his second goal of the campaign and led HCU with four shots, two on goal coming off the pine. Okerayi registered his team-best fifth assist of the season, while Harvey Heeps made four saves in claiming his third clean sheet of the season.
Xavier Gagnon led the Leathernecks (4-7-3 / 2-3-1 OVC) with four shots, while OVC Goalkeeper of the Week Harvey Bolland made two saves on the afternoon.
UTRGV 4, SOUTHERN INDIANA 3
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's soccer team used four second half goals to down the University of Southern Indiana (USI) Screaming Eagles for their first Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) win in program history Thursday at Strassweg Field.
Leading the charge for the Vaqueros (3-4-3, 1-2-2 OVC) was fifth year captain Elias Taj who scored two goals off the bench in the second half, including the game-winning penalty kick goal in the 86th minute. Fifth year Eduardo De Oliveira finished with a goal and an assist on the night. Senior Mouhamed Pouye tacked on his fourth goal of the season. This is the first time UTRGV has scored four goals in a conference match since scoring five against Air Force in 2024.
The Screaming Eagles (1-8-4, 1-4-1 OVC) had a pair of goals from Ian Graham while Jimmy Murphy had the other goal. Kadiri Bello, Edin Cvorovic, and Isaac Weidner were credited with assists in the match.
The Vaqueros applied some pressure early in the match including a great setup on a long pass by junior Ruben Cooper in the defensive half to sophomore junior Alvaro Abeal just outside the box. Abeal's ensuing cross to De Oliveira connected, but the header missed wide left of the net.
The Screaming Eagles took the lead with goals in the 27th and 28th minute.
UTRGV's defense tightened up following the two goals as it held USI without a shot for the remainder of the half.
The Vaqueros had a promising chance in the 60th minute when De Oliveira found sophomore Sammy Jadid at the top of the box but the touch was too strong and the keeper scooped it up. In the 64th minute, Abeal found De Oliveira who touched it along to Taj for the right-footed finish that brought UTRGV within one.
Following a short corner in the 70th minute, Victor van der Aa crossed a ball into the middle of the box to the head of De Oliveira who directed it into the upper right corner to tie the match at 2-2.
UTRGV took the lead in the 77th minute when a cross by senior Mouhamed Pouye was deflected in to make it 3-2. Three minutes later, Graham ripped a shot from outside the box that found the netting and tied the match at 3-3.
With just under five minutes to play, Jadid dribbled to the edge of the box and was fouled resulting in a penalty kick. Taj stepped up and finished it into the bottom right corner for the 4-3 lead.
In the match, UTRGV outshot USI 20-15 with a 10-6 advantage in shots on goal. The Vaqueros generated nine corner kicks to the Screaming Eagles' three.
LINDENWOOD 4, SIUE 3
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team (6-2-6, 3-0-3 OVC) matched up against the SIUE Cougars on Thursday afternoon on the road with the result being a huge 4-0 victory for the Lions. With the victory, Lindenwood made their way to top the conference with and currently sits in first place in the OVC standings with four matches to play in the regular season.
Defender Clement Baron had a great opportunity that was saved by the SIUE goalkeeper in the opening minutes of the first half following a set piece opportunity. That pressure was followed by David Magalhaes and Leland Gray, who fired shots at the quarter hour mark towards the SIUE goalkeeper with the first being saved and the follow up being blocked.
At the midway point of the first half, goalkeeper Quinn Closson made a big save following a deflected effort from the Cougars. Lindenwood followed that save with an excellent defensive display, holding SIUE to no shot attempts for the remainder of the half. The Lions rattled off six shots of their own with two of those forcing a save out of the Cougars keeper. In the dying seconds of the first half, Jeremiah Trusty had his shot blocked following the last of four LU corners in the first half. A great first half performance away from home saw the two sides scoreless at the half.
In the 50th minute the Lions broke the scoreless tie with a goal from Ethan Walls, who scored his first collegiate goal. His goal was assisted by Eddy Mwanje and Philip Viberg Rasmussen. Rasmussen drove down the touchline and found Mwanje who laid off the ball for Walls to create space for the goal. Similar to the first half, the LU defense continued to deal with pressure from SIUE, who fired three shots simultaneously at Lindenwood's goal with blocks flying in preventing the equalizer. Closson made his second save of the contest in the 73rd minute with the shot coming off the crossbar following his touch.
Forward David Magalhaes gave the Lions a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute from the penalty spot after winning the penalty and converting the kick following a foul from the SIUE goalkeeper. A third goal came seven minutes later when Javaun Mills buried a shot into the back of the net from inside the box after the Cougars back line turned the ball over to the midfielder. With less than three minutes to go, Lindenwood added another goal to make it 4-0 thanks to a free kick taken by Miguel Adoboe, who flicked the ball into the net with a glance off the SIUE defender.