- The Western Illinois men's soccer team bounced back in an impressive fashion Thursday, defeating Eastern Illinois 4-1 at John MacKenzie Alumni Field in Ohio Valley Conference action.
The Leathernecks wasted little time applying pressure, with Xavier Gagnon opening the scoring in the 24th minute. Jack Schwering provided the assist as Gagnon put Western Illinois ahead 1-0.
Western Illinois doubled its advantage in the 36th minute when George Frost found the back of the net, finishing a pass from Gagnon to make it 2-0.
Just four minutes later, Rashidi Ishibwiami added to the Leathernecks' lead with a goal in the 40th minute. The score marked the first goal of Ishibwiami's Western Illinois career, giving the Leathernecks a commanding 3-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Eastern Illinois cut into the deficit early in the second half, scoring in the 51st minute to make it 3-1. Western Illinois responded by continuing to create attacking opportunities and eventually restored its three-goal lead.
Gagnon scored his second goal of the afternoon in the 79th minute, finishing another assist from Schwering to secure the 4-1 victory.
The win provided a strong response for the Leathernecks following Sunday's 3-1 loss to Southern Indiana, as Western Illinois delivered a four-goal performance on its home field.
SAN ANTONIO - Diego Robles scored a late equalizer as the University of the Incarnate Word soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw against conference leader SIUE on Thursday afternoon at Benson Stadium. The Cardinals' defense held the Cougars scoreless in the second half to secure the draw.
SIUE was first on the board, scoring off a corner kick to take a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute of the game. The Cougars maintained their advantage through the remainder of the first half as Dorian Gardi led the Cardinals with three shots, followed by Robles with two.
In the 59th, Erik Rios delivered a cross over to Robles, who buried it in the back of the net for the equalizer. Neither team managed a goal in the final 30 minutes of the match, leaving the score even at one. This marks the second tie in the series history between UIW and SIUE, with the last tie coming from a scoreless draw in 2024.
The Cardinals outshot the Cougars 18-to-10, recording their second-highest shot total of the season, while also holding an 8-to-4 advantage in corner kicks.
LINDENWOOD 3, UTRGV 1
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team (5-2-5, 2-0-2 OVC) took down UTRGV on Thursday night by a final score of 3-1. The Lions scored two goals in the first 26 minutes of the game and added a third goal early in the second half to move into sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.
David Magalhaes opened the scoring for Lindenwood in the fourth minute of the first half, receiving an upfield pass from Leland Gray before sending a shot past the Vaquero goalkeeper to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead. Later in the half, Lindenwood's defense forced a turnover that led to the team's second goal. Luca Bartoni created the opportunity by forcing the turnover, allowing the ball to find Eddy Mwanje. Mwanje then sent a pass across the pitch to Thato Lekgetho, who found Mwanje making a run past the UTRGV defenders. Mwanje collected the return pass and quickly fired a shot past the goalkeeper into the lower left corner of the goal to extend the Lions' lead to 2-0. Defensively, Lindenwood limited UTRGV to just two shots in the opening half, while the Lions recorded five shots of their own, including two from Bartoni.
The Lions continued to attack early in the second half, scoring just three minutes after the break on Luke Neely's first goal of the season. Following a Vaquero foul just outside the box, Neely headed the free kick opportunity toward the goal. Although his initial attempt was saved, Neely capitalized on the rebound and buried the ball in the back of the net to extend Lindenwood's lead to 3-0.
UTRGV battled back in the final 15 minutes and found the back of the net in the 81st minute to cut the deficit to two, but Lindenwood held on to secure their second OVC win of the season and fifth overall in 2026. Quinn Closson finished the match with four saves, while the Lindenwood defense added a team save as the Lions recorded five total saves, all coming in the second half.
HCU 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
HOUSTON - Houston Christian University rallied for a second-half equalizer before finishing a 1-1 draw with University of Southern Indiana on Thursday night at Sorrels Field.
The Huskies seemed to be in control as the first half waned on, aggressively attacking the offensive end and peppering the box with shots to the tune of an 11-3 edge. HCU thought they had their breakthrough but a point blank poke from Ryan Okerayi in the 26th minute was diverted by 6'6 USI keeper Kael McGowan.
Just over 10 minutes later, it was the Eagles who were screaming, as a centering pass from Tony Murphy found its way to Jimmy Murphy, who slotted it home to break the ice and hand USI a 1-0 lead with 10 to play in the first frame.
After 15 minutes of back-and-forth coming out of intermission, HCU would finally find the back of the net just past the hour mark. A beautiful build-up ended with a lead from Ryan Okerayi to the right channel finding Andrew Dillett. Dillett took a touch and laced a clean centering pass that ended on the left foot of a sliding Marcos Moore, knotting the score a one-apiece with half an hour still to go.
USI would get another crack 10 minutes later, but a shot from Tony Murphy was batted away by HCU keeper Harvey Heeps. The Huskies got several looks down the stretch, but could not find the go-ahead, leaving the teams just as they had started 90 minutes prior.
HCU finished with a 16-6 edge in shots, 4-3 on goal while earning six corners to just two for the visitors from Evansville.
Marcos Moore collected his second goal of the campaign. Ryan Okerayi had two shots on goal to go with his fourth assist of the season while freshman Andrew Dillett had a splendid first start for HCU, playing 83 minutes and recording his first career assist. Heeps made two saves for the Huskies.
Jimmy Murphy had his first goal of the season while Tony Murphy picked up his team-best fourth assist for Southern Indiana, now 1-6-4 overall and 1-2-1 in OVC play.