St. Charles, Missouri --- Houston Christian University claimed a valuable road point in a Sunday matinee as it took a hard-earned 1-1 draw with defending league champion Lindenwood University at Hunter Stadium. The game was rematch of last year's epic double-overtime penalty shootout championship match.
The Lions outshot the Huskies 5-1 in the first half as the two went to the intermission scoreless. With a solid tempo established, the two battled evenly again in the second frame, with LU holding a 4-3 lead in shots while earning five corners to just one for HCU.
Just into the 71st minute, the Huskies broke the ice. Aiden Lopez put together a splendid run to the center of the final third, and
Ryan Okerayi fed a beautiful lead pass through two defenders. Lopez claimed the give and snuck a left-footed poke to the bottom corner just to the right of LU keeper Quinn Clossen.
The defending champs came right back with an equalizer just over four minutes later. A corner entry from Eddy Mwanje was headed with a swift glance by Clement Baron, drawing the hosts level with just 15 to play.
Mwanje would put a shot on in the 78th minute but it was batted away by HCU keeper
Harvey Heeps. The Huskies got one more look late on a shot by
Santiago Maynez that went awry.
It was just another chapter in what has become a solid rivalry between the two schools. The sixth meeting was the fourth to end in a 1-1 draw with each team having one just once.
Heeps made three saves for the Huskies while Lopez opened his HCU account with the first score of his career. Okerayi picked up his third assist of the season, which moved him into the Top 10 all-time at HCU with 14.
Baron picked up his first goal of the season for Lindenwood (4-2-5 / 1-0-2) while Mwanje recorded his second helper of the season.
HCU goes to 3-4-3 overall and 1-0-1 in OVC play. The Huskies will return home to Fondren Road for a pair of matches this week, beginning on Thursday night with a 7 pm kick against University of Southern Indiana at Sorrels Field.
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