HCU at DRAKE
📆 Friday, September 6, 2024 - 1 pm
🏟️ Mediacom Stadium – Des Moines, Iowa
📺 ESPN+
📈 LIVE STATS
HCU at OMAHA
📆 Monday, September 9, 2024 - 7 pm
🏟️ Caniglia Field – Omaha, Nebraska
📺 Summit League Network
📈 LIVE STATS
Houston Christian University hits the middle of its four-match road stretch with a pair of outings in the Midwest, taking on Drake University on Friday and the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Monday.
HCU is coming off a valiant 2-1 defeat away to Gonzaga on Sunday evening.
Sebastian Rodriguez's 80
th minute score cut the deficit in half before HCU ultimately fell to the red-hot Zags, who are off to their best start since 1997. It was the first road tilt of the season for the Huskies, who dropped to 1-3 on the season.
A 1-1 week for the Huskies saw a clean sweep of the Ohio Valley Conference weekly awards as
Ethan Giwa-McNeil,
Hans Leza and
Alex Aitken took home honors for the week. It was the second time in two years for HCU to claim all three honors in the same week.
Giwa-McNeil took Offensive honors after posting a brace in the 4-1 win over North American University on Saturday. He leads the Huskies in shots taken with 10 and is one of three players with four points to pace the squad.
Leza was named Defensive after playing the full 90 in each of the two matches while helping the Huskies allow just three goals in two matches. He also added an assist in the Gonzaga match, and has now dating back to last season, gone the distance in 14 consecutive matches.
Aitken was named OVC Goalkeeper of the Week for the second time in his career, with the last coming when he,
D'Alessandro Herrera and
Bangelee Sesay swept the OVC trifecta on September 12, 2023. He put aside 13 shots and allowed just three goals in his debut, and has moved into fourth place all-time in saves just behind Christopher Dodd.
The Huskies are even in goals and goals allowed in 2024 at seven apiece. HCU has been very aggressive offensively through four matches, shooting at .492% with 30 of 61 shots coming on target. Giwa-McNeil is second in the OVC in shots, with
Jireh Oyebamiji fourth and
Kaone Kolagano,
Ricardo Garcia and
Ryan Okerayi tied for fifth.
Giwa-McNeil and Oyebamiji are second and third in shots per game respectively, while Giwa-McNeil is goals, goals per game, points and points per game. Okerayi and
Freddy Ferguson rank second in the league in assists with two apiece.
Friday will be the just the second meeting all-time between HCU and Drake and the first in over 10 years when the two clubs fought to a 2-2 draw in Des Moines in 2014. The Bulldogs come into the match sitting at 2-2 on the season after a short-handed rally in Chicago gave them a 2-1 result at DePaul.
The Bulldogs are led by Damian Segura, a junior midfielder who has four goals and nine points through the first four matches. Redshirt senior forward Evan Carlson is one of five players with a single goal and leads the squad with two helpers. Rookie goalkeeper Tomas Butkovic has made 12 saves while facing 45 total shots in four outings.
The Monday tilt at Omaha is the third meeting all-time but the first to be played in Nebraska. HCU leads the series 1-0-1 after last year's 4-1 victory on Sorrels Field.
D'Alessandro Herrera had two goals and an assist while
Ryan Okerayi and
Thomas Wyke provided single scores and
Ricardo Garcia added two assists.
The Mavericks are currently 4-0 on the season and will play on Friday night in Phoenix against Grand Canyon University. Both UNO and GCU received votes for the Top 25 rankings released on Tuesday.
UNO has been efficient on the offensive side and stout on the defensive end thus far in 2024. The Mavericks put the ball on target at a .609% clip, with 28 of their 46 attempts coming on goal. Conversely, Omaha has allowed just three to hit the back of the net in four matches.
Senior forward Theo Klein leads the Mavs with three goals and two assists on the year. Senior netminder Nathanael Sallah has made 17 saves and allowed just three goals in his three starts in the pipes.
The time away from Fondren Road concludes on Saturday, September 14 when the Huskies head to Tulsa, Oklahoma to face Oral Roberts University.
#DawgsUp
