LYNCHBURG, Virginia – Houston Christian University got a career-night from Alex Aitken to gain a huge three points on the road as it posted a 1-0 blanking of Liberty University on Sunday night at Osborne Stadium. Aitken went for a career-high 12 saves and became HCU's all-time leader in victories, helping the Huskies bounce back in a monumental way from Thursday night and finish off a month-long trek away from home.
 
The two teams wasted no time getting into a good pace. The Flames opened things up with a run down the left side by Leo Conneh, whose shot was gobbled up by Alex Aitken just 1:23 into the match. Just into the 11th minute, it was the Huskies' turn, hitting Ryan Okerayi down the middle of the pitch where his shot from 12 yards out was knocked aside by Tyler Beck.
 
Sam Farner got another solid chance just shy of 20 minutes in, lacing a shot right into the arms of Aitken. Ron Pressler came on late in the half and had a couple of good looks for the Huskies four minutes apart, but could get neither to go. The Flames would put two more on target over the final eight minutes of the half, both saved by Aitken to preserve the scoreless deadlock at the break.
 
HCU came out of the intermission aggressive and earned two consecutive corner kicks. On the second, Ben Thirkill's outswing was met by Nico Kross with a shot off his left shoulder that rifled past the leaping Beck and into the top left corner, breaking the ice and giving the Huskies a 1-nil advantage just under four minutes into the second session.
 
The action ramped up even more following the goal, as the Flames looked to equalize and the Huskies sought after their second. Liberty peppered the pipes continuously and as the clock hit the 66^th minute, Zach Lifferth laced a shot from the edge of the six right into the grill of Aitken, who batted it away. With 15 minutes remaining, Aitken made a spectacular one-handed stab of a left-footed blast by Elijah Joe at the top of the 18-yard box before making three more saves in the final minute to preserve the win.
 
HCU was outshot 17-10 and the Flames put 12 of their shots on target to just five for the Huskies. HCU earned eight corners, including the most important one of the match in the 49th minute that produced the lone goal of the contest by Kross, the first of his career.
 
Ryan Okerayi had four of HCU's 10 shots, and put three of them on target. Liberty (6-3-2, 2-1-0 OVC) was led by Adian Morrison, Sam Farner and Dylan Swinehart, each of whom had two shots on goal. Tyler Beck made four saves for the Flames.
 
Alex Aitken was magnificent on this night, making a career-high 12 saves for his fifth clean sheet of the campaign. It was his 22nd career victory for the Huskies, pushing him past Christopher Dodd for the top spot in program history.
 
The win pushes HCU to 6-3-1 overall and evened the OVC ledger at 1-1-1, a fine way to conclude a season-long five-game stretch away from Sorrels Field that saw the Huskies go 2-2-1.
 
After a month away, the Huskies now return to Fondren Road for a pair of conference matchups this week, facing Eastern Illinois University on Thursday evening before a tilt with Western Illinois University on Sunday afternoon, the back-end of a doubleheader with the women's team.
 
 
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