⚽️ 2025 SEASON OPENER
🆚 Drake University  
📆 Thursday, August 21, 2025
⏰ 7 pm
🏟️ Sorrels Field – Houston, Texas
📈 LIVE STATS    
🗒️ GAME PROGRAM
 
Houston Christian University kicks off its 2025 campaign hosting Drake University on Thursday evening at Sorrels Field. The Huskies welcome the Bulldogs to Fondren Road to open a four-match homestand over the final 10 days of August.
 
Ryan Pratt returns for his ninth season at the helm after guiding the Huskies to an 8-7-5 overall mark and 5-2-3 ledger in OVC action last season, advancing to the championship final of the conference tournament before falling in a heart-breaking 3-2 double-overtime loss to SIUE.
 
HCU's eight wins overall were the most since 2015 team won nine matches, and also marked the first winning record in a season since that 2015 club. The five conference victories were the most since going 5-6 in the WAC during the 2019 season.
 
Three All-Conference players return for the Huskies. Ryan Okerayi and senior midfielder D'Alessandro Herrera are two-time All-OVC selections, while manning the woodwork is All-OVC keeper Alex Aitken. The Huskies will have 15 newcomers on the roster, including seven transfers.
 
Okerayi was second on the club in goals and points last season while leading the squad in assists. He notched three game winners, including a goal straight out of the half to hand SIUE its first and only loss in two years of conference action. He tied for fourth in the league in helpers and total points and tied for fifth in goals scored.
 
Herrera and Aitken return for their final season in orange and blue.
 
Herrera put together another solid season for the Huskies, scoring three goals and dishing out three assists for nine points. He is now tied for sixth all-time in assists at HCU with 16, and his five game-winners in his career are tied for sixth as well.
 
Aitken posted an 8-5-5 ledger between the pipes last season, moving him into third place all-time with 16 career wins. He also posted a career-high eight shutouts to move into second place all-time, while his 77 saves on the season moved him atop the HCU career leaderboard with 229 over his three years on Fondren Road.
 
Also returning for the Huskies are juniors Hans Leza and Ricardo Garcia, who last year combined to help lead a formidable HCU defense that allowed just 19 goals in 20 matches.
 
Leza was the only player to start all 20 matches. He was a two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Week who led the team in minutes played. Garcia scored two goals and added an assist while starting six times in 19 matches.
 
A four-match homestand kicks off the 2025 campaign, as the Huskies will welcome Drake University for the season opener.  
 
Drake comes to Houston as the preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite. The Bulldogs, led by Head Coach Pat Flinn, went 9-5-3 overall and 5-1-2 in MVC play last year and feature three returning All-Conference players as well. Eskil Gjerde was the Co-Midfielder of the Year while fellow senior Ryder Barrett joined him on the first team. DU also returns MVC Freshman of the Year Preston Kipnusu, who had four goals and an assist in his rookie season.  
 
The two teams have met just twice all-time with both meetings in Des Moines, Iowa and the Bulldogs holding a 1-0-1 lead in the series. Drake took the most recent meeting, getting a 35th minute header from Kipnusu that proved the game-winner in a 1-0 home win over the Huskies last September 6.
 
Season three of Ohio Valley Conference soccer begins on September 26 when HCU travels to the Alamo City to take on long-time rival University of the Incarnate Word in the first of three straight away to begin the conference slate.
 
HCU was picked to finish second in the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Men's Soccer poll released last Thursday, as the Huskies enter their third season in the league. Okerayi was named as one of eight "Players to Watch" heading into the season. The Huskies picked up two first place votes and 69 total points in the poll of league coaches and communications directors.
 
The Huskies will welcome University of the Pacific on Sunday evening at Sorrels FIeld. Drake and Pacific are making a Texas two-step, switching opponents from Thursday to Sunday as they both will also face University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
 
#DawgsUp