EDINBURG, Texas - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's soccer program defeated the Western Illinois (WIU) Leathernecks 1-0 for its first home Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) win Saturday at UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
 
The Vaqueros (4-5-4, 2-3-3 OVC) picked up their first home win since defeating California Baptist 2-0 on Oct. 27, 2024. With the win and a loss by Southern Indiana, UTRGV has vaulted into the top six of the OVC standings. The top six teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the OVC Men's Soccer Tournament.
 
Junior Elias Taj scored the game-winner off a penalty kick in the 22nd minute, his team-leading sixth goal of the season. Sophomore Conrad Knight picked up his third shutout of the season, tallying three saves in the win.
 
The Leathernecks (4-8-4, 2-5-1 OVC) were led defensively by goalkeeper Drew Heller who tallied four saves in the match. Joining Heller was the backline that generated two saves in the match.
 
The first half was all Vaqueros as the backline of juniors Jonah Gasho and Ruben Cooper, sophomore Emmanuel Gore Bi, and freshman Victor van der Aa held WIU to zero shots in the initial 45 minutes.
 
Offensively, UTRGV generated four good looks on frame. The first two shots on goal happened within the first five minutes. Taj took control of a quick free kick across the offensive half and dribbled inside the box, where he moved past his defender and shot right at the charging Heller.
 
Gasho recovered the loose ball and put another shot on frame but a Leathernecks defender dropped into position to earn a save.
 
Then, the Leathernecks generated their best opportunity of the half, charging into the box with a series of long passes, but couldn't get a shot past the suffocating Vaqueros defense.
 
Then, in the 22nd minute, the Vaqueros generated another opportunity as junior Alvaro Abeal passed ahead to Taj just outside the top left corner of the box. Taj delivered a nice heel-kick to fifth year Eduardo De Oliveira. After De Oliveira recovered a loose ball, he delivered a good pass to the cutting Abeal who was fouled by Fabrizio Kasperiski just inside the box.
 
The foul resulted in a penalty kick, giving Taj an opportunity to put UTRGV ahead in the match. Taj stepped up and fired the ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal, securing the 1-0 lead for UTRGV.
 
The Vaqueros put one more shot on frame as sophomore Sammy Jadid put a daring shot off a nice, short cross by Taj, but it was corralled by Heller.
 
The Leathernecks opened the second half with three shots in the opening 15 minutes, although none were on target. The Vaqueros also generated two shots with none on goal.
 
The Leathernecks continued as Jack Schwering took a shot from just inside the top-left corner of the box. The shot was directed straight to the top-left corner of the goal but was thwarted by the leaping sophomore goalkeeper Conrad Knight, who picked up his first save of the match in the 65th minute.
 
In the 76th minute, the Vaqueros created a good look off a Leatherneck error in the defensive half. Junior Jevaughn Harris took control of the loose ball and delivered it to senior Malang Mandiang, who fired a shot that was saved by the leaping WIU defender, Marco Presta.
 
In the final 10 minutes, the Leathernecks generated a corner kick as Maksim Palisak sent it to the near post. The corner was cleared by a Pouye header but recovered again by Palisak. Palisak sent a cross to the cutting Isaiah Lamark who put his foot on the ball, but Knight stopped the shot to secure the shutout victory.
 
UTRGV and WIU both had 10 shots in the match with the Vaqueros owning a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. Knight ended the match with three saves to Heller's four.


SIUE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1