HOUSTON – Houston Christian University used an explosive second half offense and a stingy game-long defensive effort to wrap up the regular season with a 5-1 "Senior Day" rout of University of Southern Indiana at Sorrels Field Sunday afternoon.

The win, coupled with rival UIW's 1-0 victory over Liberty, pushed HCU to the top of their pod to earn a top-two seed and bye to the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
The two teams spent the first quarter hour feeling the game out, with much of the play squarely in the middle third. It was then that HCU began to push the pace, getting solid looks from Ryan Okerayi in the 17th minute and then Joby Reid just seconds later.
 
Close to two minutes later, the Huskies broke the ice. A strong build up led to numbers with Nana Obeng pushing the ball up the left side. He quickly located Cezar Onut who fed a soft pass to a trailing D'Alessandro Herrera down the middle. Herrera would take a little touch and score, giving the senior a goal on his final day on the home pitch.
 
The Screaming Eagles would get a pair of shots on target just past 35 minutes, both by Will Kirchhoffer and both parried away by Alex Aitken to allow the one-nil scoreline to carry into intermission.
 
Out of the break, the Huskies put the pedal down. In the 54th minute, it was Obeng again, with a nifty loft over the defense to a streaking Jireh Oyebamiji. Keeper Jacob English came out and Oyebamiji popped a soft shot over the top for his first goal of the season and a 2-0 advantage.
 
HCU kept up the pressure, and English made two more stops on shots by Onut and Okerayi just minutes apart closing in on an hour. As the 65th minute beckoned, it was Oyebamiji once more, taking a through ball by Kacy Parish from midfield and smashing home a left-footed finish for his second goal as the Huskies jettisoned to a commanding three-goal lead.
 
Three minutes later the lead ballooned to four as Okerayi stole a ball from the keeper on the edge of the 18 and punched home his eighth goal of the season. Joby Reid capped the scoring for the Huskies after a nice bit of work from Okerayi racing down the right flank. Okerayi came back middle where he found Ron Pressler who then dropped it for Reid to finish for the team's fifth of the day and his fifth of the season.
 
USI would put one on the board in the 84th minute as Pablo Juan took a give from Tony Murphy to provide the final score of the afternoon.
 
HCU cranked out 19 shots on the day with a season-high 10 on target for a 2025 single-game best five scores. On the other end, the Huskies deployed a stiffling defense that would limit USI to six total shot attempts and three on goal, just one coming in the decisive second frame and that with under five minutes to play.
 
Oyebamiji captured his first career brace and first career game-winner on his final day at Sorrels Field, while Herrera added his fifth goal of the season and 17th of his career.
 
Okerayi's eighth goal of the season gave him a new career-high and he added his second helper of the season as well. Nana Obeng, making his first start of the campaign, added his first two career assists while playing a season-high 81 minutes. Ron Pressler had his third assist of the season, Onut his second and Kacy Parish added the first of his career.
 
Alex Aitken got the win in the pipes, making two saves to give him 70 for the season and mark the fourth straight season with 70 or more. He now needs one save to hit 300 for his career.
 
Pablo Juan had two shots and a goal while Jacob English and Kale McGowan combined for five saves for USI, which ends its season at 2-10-5 overall and 1-4-5 in OVC play.
 
HCU improves to 10-5-2 on the season and finishes the OVC slate at 5-3-2. The Huskies registered their first 10-win season since 2008, the second year back in Division 1.
 
The win, along with UIW's 1-0 win over Liberty gives the Huskies the top spot in the pod and the top-two seed and first round bye that goes along with it. The top seed is regular season champion Lindenwood, who will host the tournament in St. Charles, Missouri after two straight seasons at two-time defending champion SIUE. 
 
It is the second straight season the Huskies have been the second-seed in the tournament. HCU will play at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 12 against the winner of third-seeded Liberty and sixth-seeded Eastern Illinois.
 
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