🆚 Oral Roberts University
📆 Sunday, September 7, 2025
⏰ 7 pm CT
🏟️ Sorrels Field – Houston, Texas
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Houston Christian University returns to Sorrels Field to cap off a season-opening stretch of four home matches in the first five outings when it takes on long-time rival Oral Roberts University. Kick-off is slated for 7 pm.
 
Houston Christian University passed its first road test of the season on Thursday night in California, winning a clash with the Tritons in a 2-0 victory. The win over UC San Diego was the third clean sheet in the first four matches of the season for the Huskies.
 
Aggressive from the outset, the Huskies finally got their reward just after the start of the second half. In the 49th minute Joby Reid picked up an errant pass in the final third and slotted home his first career score to put the Texans ahead.
 
HCU continued to pepper the Tritons defense with seven more shots three on target over the next 25 minutes. With less than five minutes to play Ryan Okerayi was dragged down in the box, leading to a penalty where his effort from the spot was calmly placed home for a two-goal advantage as the Huskies raced to the finish line.
 
HCU posted its fourth straight match with double-figure shots, outshooting the Tritons 17-6 with an 8-3 edge on target. Herrera led the way with five shots, two on goal, while Okerayi and Reid each took three and scored once.
 
Alex Aitken, the school's leader in career saves, registered three more to highlight the third clean sheet in four for the Huskies. He is now 3-1 on the season and just one victory shy of tying Michael Bouchahine with 20 victories for second on the wins leaderboard since the program was restarted in 2006.
 
Okerayi leads the club with six points on three goals, having put seven of his 11 total shots on goal thus far for a .636 SOG%. Reid, a freshman from New Zealand, is just one point behind after scoring his first career goal to go with his team-best three assists.
 
Now 3-1-0 on the season, the Huskies return home to face longtime rival Oral Roberts University on Sunday evening at Sorrels Field. It is the 16th meeting all-time with the Golden Eagles, with ORU holding a slim 6-5-4 lead in the series.
 
The two teams have drawn each of the last two years, including last year's 2-2 stalemate in Tulsa in which the Huskies got two goals in the final 17 minutes. Ricardo Garcia provided the equalizer in the 80th minute in a game that jumpstarted a 7-3-4 closing run for the Huskies, culminating in the OVC title match.
 
Led by Ryan Bush, now in his 13th season at the helm, ORU hits Fondren Road fresh off its first victory of the season, a 2-1 come-from-behind result against ten-man UTRGV. Goals from Leonardo de Almeida Seixas and Tweneboa Kodua scored second-half goals to help overtake the Vaqueros. The Eagles (1-3-1) tied their opener with Fullerton then lost three straight, including a 2-0 loss at No.5 ranked Wake Forest.
 
The Eagles returned just five goals off last year's 7-6-3 squad, with Benjamin Morgan being the tops at three scored in his rookie campaign. Five different players have now scored a goal for ORU thus far.
 
Jakub Grzesiak and Joao Mesquita form a one-two punch in goal, with the pair basically splitting starts this season. Grzesiak was 10-4-3 with a 0.82 GAA in 2023, while Mesquita was 7-6-1 with an 0.91 GAA in 2024. The two have combined for 15 saves on 57 shots faced.
 
Sunday evening marks the fourth match out of five at Sorrels Field to start the season for the Huskies. HCU will hit the road for the rest of September and first week of October, a stretch of five matches that includes the first three of OVC play. HCU next hits the pitch on Fondren Road on October 9, when it hosts Eastern Illinois University at 7 pm.
 
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