🆚 Lindenwood University
📆 Thursday, October 29, 2026
⏰ 7 pm CT
🏟️ Sorrels Field - Houston, Texas
📺
WATCH
📈 LIVE STATS
🗒 GAME NOTES
Houston Christian University starts the final week of the regular season when it hosts defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Lindenwood University on Thursday night. Kick-off at Sorrels Field is slated for 6 pm.
Head Coach
Ryan Pratt, now in his 10th season at the helm has the Huskies at 5-6-5 overall and 3-2-3 in conference play after a four-goal second half comeback highlighted a 5-2 win over red-hot archrival University of the Incarnate Word on Sunday evening in San Antonio.
Incarnate Word took the lead 20 minutes into the evening off a corner kick, but HCU would knot things up in the 38th minute off a corner of their own after Marcus Moore centered a pass from near the left endline to
Ricardo Garcia for a quick toe poke equalizer. That tie lasted a little under five minutes as UIW made use of a second corner piece to get a second goal and take a 2-1 lead at the half.
HCU stepped up the pressure after the intermission, and it paid off just past the hour mark. Moore went on a run down the left hash and was clipped from behind in the box.
Jess Degenaers calmly converted the penalty kick to level the match at the 63:28 mark. The aggressiveness continued as HCU looked for the go-ahead. Degenaers led a charge down the right flank, and his entry across the pitch found
Clarenns Sainrimat on the wing. Sainrimat then laced home a screamer from long range past Victor Salmeron to push the Huskies to their first advantage of the night, 3-2.
The Huskies continued to press the issue looking for insurance against their red-hot rivals. A run up the right side led to another strong entry by Degenaers, whose pass was redirected by
Ryan Okerayi to Sainrimat, who smashed home the finish from close range and a 4-2 lead.
Marcos Moore would get in on the act moments later. Degenaers lofted a smooth lead pass to the box that Moore stuck home leaning on the run, giving the Huskies a 5-2 cushion.
HCU put up 14 shots with eight coming on target, seven in the second half. The Huskies turned around 1-0 and 2-1 deficits with the offensive outburst in the second half, scoring four times within 14 minutes to take control and snap a five-match unbeaten run for the Cardinals. The five goals was a season-high for the Huskies, who secured their first win in San Antonio since 2018. It was the first time in the last four meetings at UIW that the match has not ended in a draw.
Clarenns Sainrimat secured his second career brace, his first with the Huskies.
Jess Degenaers turned in a career night as he opened his account with his first career goal and added three assists, which tied him with Thilo Borgmann (at ORU, 2014) and Darrell Johnson (at UTRGV, 2016) for the single-game program record.
Marcos Moore had a goal and an assist,
Ryan Okerayi added his team-best sixth helper of the season and
Harvey Heeps made three saves for the Huskies in the pipes.
This Huskies, coming off a back-to-back runner-up finishes in the league, currently sit in fourth place in the league with 12 points, one point out of third and just four points off the league leaders. Lindenwood enters play on Thursday in second place in the OVC with 15 points, one behind the conference pace-setter in SIUE.
Through 16 matches,
Ryan Okerayi leads the club with four goals and six assists. He is tied for first in the conference in assists, and is tied for ninth in both goals and total points (14). His assist versus Incarnate Word moved him into a tie for fifth place all-time in that category while his goal against Eastern Illinois two weeks ago was the 25th of his career. He is one of just seven players in school history with 20 or more goals.
Clarenns Sainrimat, who was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Week following three goals in two matches last week, and
Marcos Moore are now tied with Okerayi for the team lead in goals.
Callum Niven and Aiden Lopez each have a pair of goals.
Defensive leader
Nico Kross returned to the pitch after sitting out since October 4. He subbed on at the half with immediate impact, helping the Huskies hold UIW scoreless on just four total shots. Senior defender
Hans Leza, a mainstay on the backline for HCU for four seasons, passed the 5,000 minutes-played mark for his career and now sits in third place all-time with 5,594 minutes. He now ranks in the Top 10 in games played and games started with 67 and 65 respectively.
Harvey Heeps has been solid in his debut season in the pipes after taking over from OVC Goalkeeper of the Year
Alex Aitken. The redshirt freshman has 56 saves through 16 matches, including a career-high nine against then No. 5 and now No. 1 SMU. He has been named Keeper of the Week twice and has three clean sheets on the season. He ranks first in the OVC in saves, second in saves per game (3.50) and shutouts (3), and third in goals against (1.7) and save percentage (.675).
HCU's final homestand of the campaign starts on Thursday night with defending OVC champion Lindenwood University hitting Sorrells Field.
It is the second meeting of the two schools this season, with the first ending in a 1-1 draw in St. Charles, Missouri on October 4.
Aidan Lopez scored in the 71st minute, but the Lions came right back just over four minutes later with the equalizer.
The Huskies and Lions have now drawn four times in six all-time meetings. Thursday marks just the second time that Lindenwood will have played in Houston in a series that sits 1-1-4 coming into the penultimate regular season match of 2026.
Lindenwood enters the game with a 7-3-6 overall mark and a 4-1-3 ledger in the OVC, putting them second in the league standings just one point behind SIUE with two games to play. Now in his fourth season at the helm, Head Coach Kris Bertsch led the Lions to the OVC title last season as they bested HCU in a double-overtime, penalty kick shootout.
LU is led by 2025 OVC Forward of the Year Luca Bartoni. The first-team All-OVC selection is in his fifth season and leads the league's second-leading offense with six goals. The Lions have had 15 different goal scorers on the season with senior forward David Magalhaes recording four and a quartet of players sitting at two each.
The defending champs also return one of the top defenders in the league in senior Luke Neely as well as one of the stingiest goalkeepers in fifth-year Quinn Closson. Neely is tied for the team lead in assists with three. Closson leads the OVC in clean sheets with six allowing just 11 goals on the season for a 0.70 goals against average, both tops in the conference as well.
Following Thursday night's match, HCU will close out the regular season with a "Senior Day" matinee at 1 pm on Sunday against UTRGV. The Huskies will honor six outgoing senior athletes before the match, which is the opener of a doubleheader with the HCU women, who take on Southland Conference leaders Lamar University following the men's game.
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