HOUSTON – Houston Christian University had both winning and unbeaten streaks snapped on Sunday evening, falling to Liberty University 1-0 at Sorrels Field. The two teams locked up in a spectacular back-and-forth battle of strong defenses with a first half tally by the Flames the difference.
Each team would put one strong attempt on goal early on, with a shot by
Ryan Okerayi getting handled by Liberty's Owen Moore in the second minute and
Alex Aitken returning the favor on the league's leading goal-scorer Michael Huss just past the quarter hour.
In the 26th minute the Flames got on the board coming out of a free kick. Bryce Swineheart took the ball from the left sideline, dropped it to Aidan Morrison who dropped it right back for a quick pass to the top of the box on the right side to Gabe Findley. Findley would gather the pass and after a soft touch blasted a shot just past Aitken's dive, giving the visitors the one-nil advantage.
HCU came right back with another shot by Okerayi saved by Moore a moment later.Right out of the chute in the second half Okerayi and
Rio Pemberton again put balls on line, but Moore was up to the task.
The Huskies would have several more howlers scream off target just past an hour's time and then earned three corners in the final 16 minutes to no avail. A final header by
Sam Zeeman out of a free kick with 19 seconds remaining went just wide of the crossbar, and the Flames escaped Fondren Road with the result.
The Huskies outshot the visitors 15-5 overall but tied 4-4 in shots on goal. A battle of the league's two top goals against keepers lived up to the billing as the back of the nets saw just one all evening.
Ethan Giwa-McNeil took four shots and Okerayi had three on goal for HCU. Aitken made three saves but had his five-match unbeaten streak snapped.
HCU held Huss in check with just one shot on goal but it was Findley, the league's second-leading assist man, who provided the heroics by netting his first goal of the season to make a winner of Moore, who made four saves in posting his second straight clean sheet of the Texas swing. Liberty improves to 5-3-1 overall and remains tied with SIUE for first in the OVC at 3-0-0.
The three-match winning streak and five-match unbeaten stretch go by the wayside for HCU, as they fall to 4-5-2 overall and 2-1-0 in the league. The Huskies now sit in a tie for second with Lindenwood in Ohio Valley standings.
A pair of games in the Midwest now on the docket for the Huskies, who will take on Southern Indiana in Evansville on Thursday and Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Illinois next Sunday. Those two matches will take HCU to the midway point of the OVC slate.
HCU returns to Fondren Road on October 17 against Lindenwood, the first of the final two matches on the home pitch for the season.
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