CHARLESTON, Ill. – Houston Christian University got on the board just into the third minute of play and went on to complete a convincing sweep of the Midwest road trip by blanking Eastern Illinois University in a Sunday matinee at Lakeside Field. The Huskies put together a second straight clean sheet on an away pitch as they won for the fourth time in their last five and took over sole possession of second place in the OVC table.
The Huskies wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with an aggressive push right out of the gates. An early corner was sent into the box where after being batted around in traffic was knocked out to
Rio Pemberton just outside the 18. His cross to the backside met
Morgan Worsfold-Gregg, who smashed in a left-footed strike to give HCU a one-nil advantage just 2:04 into the contest.
HCU would control the tempo for close to a half hour more before a
Thomas Wyke shot was saved by EIU's Chad Smith, leading to another corner. After finding traffic, the ball bounded its way to the edge of the 18 where Worsfold-Gregg would have a go. That shot was deflected right to
Sam Zeeman on the back post and his flick found the bottom corner for a two-goal lead.
That's where the score stood heading to the intermission and then for 35 minutes after until the Huskies found the back of the net once more. With just under 10 to play, HCU found themselves on the counter attack and a pretty ball forward from
Ethan Giwa-McNeil hit
D'Alessandro Herrera just outside the 18 on the right-side.
Herrera fed a nice drop just inside the goal area where
Ryan Okerayi faked a shot and allowed the ball to pass through, where it found the awaiting right foot of
Rio Pemberton. The freshman neatly stroked the one-timer into the top shelf to secure the three points for HCU.
HCU outshot the hosts 16-7 on the afternoon, and went 3-4 on shots on goal. HCU earned seven corners to none for the Panthers who fall to 1-9-1 overall and 0-5-0 in OVC play.
Worsfold-Gregg and Pemberton opened their HCU accounts, becoming the 10th and 11th different Huskies to hit the back of the net this season. Pemberton led HCU with four shots and Worsfold-Gregg added two, and each also accounted for an assist, the second each respectively for the rookie English duo.
Ethan Giwa-McNeil had two assists on the afternoon as well.
Sam Zeeman put home his second score of the season and led another tremendous defensive effort in front of
Alex Aitken, who had four saves on the day while collecting his second clean sheet of the road trip. Aitken now has four shutouts on the campaign, all coming in his last six outings between the posts and the four saves moved him over 200 for his career, just the third keeper in school history to hit that plateau. He is now just 17 away from second place all-time.
Now 6-5-2 overall, the Huskies have moved into sole possession of second place in the OVC standings at 4-1-0 as the league hits the midway point of the conference slate. SIU-Edwardsville remains undefeated and top of the table after its 3-1 win at home over Liberty on Sunday, which drops the Flames to 3-2 in league play. In other league action on Sunday, UIW tied with Southern Indiana 0-0 while Lindenwood defeated Western Illnois 1-0 to move level with Liberty in third place.
HCU returns to Fondren Road later this week for the final home games of the 2024 campaign. The Huskies will host Lindenwood University on Thursday night at 7 pm and then welcome OVC defending league champion SIU-Edwardsville on Sunday afternoon. The match on Sunday at Sorrels Field is a doubleheader with the women as the men begin at 1 pm ahead of a 3:30 kickoff for the ladies against Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference action.
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