HOUSTON – Houston Christian University moved into a tie at the top of the OVC table by clipping SIU-Edwardsville 1-0 in a "Senior Day" barn-burner Sunday afternoon at Sorrels Field. The Huskies moved even with the defending conference champion Cougars in first place with three league matches still left to play in the regular season.
HCU and SIUE locked horns early defensively, settling in while taking a few chances on the offensive end. A shot by the Cougars Stephan Moreira in the 12th minute was handled by
Alex Aitken and Robert Gjelaj returned the favor in the 24th on a bicycle kick attempt by
Ethan Giwa-McNeil. Giwa-McNeil would attempt another shot in the 40th minute that was also gobbled up by Gjelaj and the two teams would trot off to intermission deadlocked at nil-nil.
The Huskies would come out of the break hot, and earned a penalty just over a minute in when Giwa-McNeil was clipped in the box. Gjelaj was up to the task however, as he swatted away the penalty attempt by
D'Alessandro Herrera to keep things scoreless.
That momentum didn't last long, as HCU came right back just two minutes later. A run and give up the side found
Ryan Okerayi, who put a move on and had a go with his left, blasting a shot past Gjelaj for the first score of the game, giving the hosts a lead just under four minutes into the second stanza.
The Huskies would take just one shot the rest of the way while fending off the Cougars. Another attempt by Moreira was gloved by Aitken just past the 57-minute mark, and Aitken again came up big with a stop of a long Yasha Schaerer shot in traffic in the 63rd minute. The Cougars would put three more shots off target the rest of the way, as Aitken and the HCU defense stood strong to preserve the shutout in the home finale.
Giwa-McNeil had two of HCU's four shots on goal while Okerayi connected on his lone one, garnering his fifth goal of the season to tie for the team-lead.
Sam Zeeman and
Thomas Wyke each picked up an assist. Aitken made four saves to pick up his fifth clean sheet of the season, all coming in the last eight outings.
Schaerer and Moreira had two shots on goal apiece for SIUE, now 7-4-3 overall and 5-1-1 in OVC play. Robert Gjelaj was strong in the pipes once again for the visitors, three saves and allowing just the lone score.
HCU is now 7-5-3 on the season and 5-1-1 in league play. The Huskies finish off the home slate of the regular season at 5-3-1 overall and will now take to the road for the remaining three matches of conference play. The stretch begins with a trip to the Alamo City next Saturday to take on long-time rival Incarnate Word.
In other OVC action on Sunday, Liberty routed Southern Indiana 5-0 to stay in third place in the league standings, just a single point behind HCU and SIUE. Lindenwood remains in fourth place after a 2-2 draw in San Antonio with fifth-place UIW. Eastern Illinois knocked off Western Illinois 2-1 for its first league victory of the season.
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