🆚
Southern Indiana
📆 Thursday, October 10, 2024
⏰ 7 pm
🏟️ Strassweg Field – Evansville, Indiana
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
🆚 Eastern Illinois
📆 Sunday, October 13, 2024
⏰ 2:30 pm
🏟️ Lakeside Field – Charleston, Illinois
📈 LIVE STATS
📺 ESPN+
Fresh off a strong homestand, Houston Christian University hits the road to the Midwest for a pair of Ohio Valley Conference tilts. The Huskies will head to Evansville, Indiana for a Thursday night matchup with University of Southern Indiana before taking the trek to Charleston, Illinois for a Sunday matinee against Eastern Illinois University.
HCU had its five-match unbeaten streak and three-game winning streak snapped on Sunday night at the hands of Liberty University, as the Flames scored the games lone tally in the first half to escape Sorrels Field with a 1-0 victory.
The loss finished off a successful 3-1 homestand for the Huskies that pushed their season mark to 4-5-2 overall and 2-1-0 in the OVC. Prior to the defeat, HCU had earned wins over rivals UTRGV and UIW as well as a shutout of Western Illinois. Now tied for second place in the league table with Lindenwood, the Huskies now face their first two OVC road games which will take them to the midway point of the conference slate.
Nine different players have now hit the back of the net for the Huskies after
Sam Zeeman and
Ron Pressler opened their accounts in the win over WIU. The balanced HCU offense has
Ethan Giwa-McNeil and
Ryan Okerayi tied for the team lead in goals with four, which has them both at third in the league.
Giwa-McNeil leads the league in shots taken with 26 and shots per game at 2.6 per, and he ranks eighth in points. Okerayi meanwhile is fourth in shots taken (24) and per game (2.4) while ranking fourth points and points per game at 1.00. Okerayi and
Freddy Ferguson are tied for the team lead in assists with three, putting them in a tie for sixth in the OVC.
Alex Aitken passed Christopher Dodd for third place all-time in saves in the win over WIU last week. He is second in the league in save percentage, fourth in saves per game at 3.67 and fourth in total saves with 33 in nine matches. He remains first in the league in goals against average at 1.11 per outing.
On Thursday, the Huskies face off against Southern Indiana for just the second time ever. The two schools first met last season in Houston, playing to a 1-1 draw at Awty Stadium.
Jireh Oyebamiji scored in the 65th minute for the Huskies, but Zach Barton equalized in the 82nd minute for the Screaming Eagles.
USI is led by Ahiro Nakamae's three goals, while Jackson Mitchell has two along with two helpers. Andrew Klott mans the woodwork and has made 55 saves in 10 starts with one shutout. The Eagles had a tough start to the season resulting in a 2-9 overall record, but they boast a 2-2 form over their last four and are currently 1-2 to begin OVC play.
On Sunday, the Huskies trek to Illinois for an afternoon matchup with the Panthers. HCU and EIU have met four times overall, twice in the 1980's and twice in the past two seasons. HCU won the most recent encounter last year at Sorrels Field as Giwa-McNeil, Okerayi,
Hans Leza and
Curtis Dunn all found the back of the net in the 4-1 victory.
The Panthers are paced by Sam Eccles, who has two goals and three assists through nine games. Jackson Liley has two goals and Casey Welage adds a goal and an assist for EIU, who are 1-7-1 overall and 0-3 at the outset of conference action.
Following the road trip the Huskies will return to Fondren Road for their final two home matches of the season on October 17 against Lindenwood University and October 20 against SIU-Edwardsville. HCU will end the season on a three
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