EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois —- Houston Christian University fell behind early in the match and went on to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of SIUE on Saturday night at Bob Guelker Field at Korte Stadium. The Cougars, who sit alone atop the OVC table, netted a goal two minutes into the match and never looked back.
The Cougars jumped out in front on a nifty bit of teamwork, with a couple of soft touches from Alsadiq Hasan and Jake Karolczak leading to a quick poke from Jacob Bilyeu for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
In the 40th minute, SIUE would strike again, this time with Will Harris scoring his first of the season. Nine minutes later, the lead grew to 3-0 on Pavel Dashin's third score of the season.
In the 74th minute, the Huskies would get on the board, as
Victor Velasco fed
Ricardo Garcia straightway out front of the 18-yard box. Garcia took the ball with his right, crossed back to his left and blasted a shot that deflected off an SIUE defender and into the left bottom corner of the net.
The Huskies were outshot on the evening 15-10 overall and 8-7 on goal. Garcia's goal was his second of the season, and came off Velasco's second assist of the season.
Alex Aitken made five saves.
HCU sees its season ledger move to 3-5-6 and its conference mark go to 1-2-3, while SIUE stays unbeaten on the year at 10-0-3. The Cougars now sit on 16 points in the standings, six clear of second-place UIW.
A return to Sorrels Field awaits the Huskies, who will play three of their final four matches on Fondren Road. HCU will host in-state rival UIW on Thursday, October 19 at 7 pm to start the finishing stretch of the regular season.
#DawgsUp
