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Western Illinois University Athletics

Team
St. Thomas Athletics
1
Winner Western Ill. Necks (2-6-7, 2-1-2)
0
St. Thomas (MN) Tommie (2-10-2, 1-3-1)
Winner
Western Ill. Necks
(2-6-7, 2-1-2)
1
Final
0
St. Thomas (MN) Tommie
(2-10-2, 1-3-1)
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Team 1 2 F
Western Ill. Necks 0 1 1
St. Thomas (MN) Tommie 0 0 0

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Beat Tommies in Crucial Game

Kyle Owen scored his third goal this season, Western is now unbeaten in its last four.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Western Illinois men's soccer played on Saturday (Oct. 22), coming out victorious against the Tommies of St. Thomas in a match that finished 1-0. With the result, Western moves to 2-6-6 on the season and has now gone four games unbeaten.
 
Luis Rodrigues made his return to the starting lineup as Western wasted little time in this one, with Muazu Sagir forcing a save from the Tommy goalkeeper less than two minutes into the matchup. The Leathernecks controlled the rest of the first half, outshooting St. Thomas 8-3, but the game was level at zeroes at the first half whistle.
 
Western's efforts were rewarded in the 63rd minute, as Kyle Owen got on the board with his third goal of the season. After the Leathernecks earned a free kick near the Tommy 18-yard box, Owen put a shot up and over the wall towards the St. Thomas goalkeeper, who mishandled the attempt and saw the ball roll into the back of the net to put WIU ahead 1-0. The goal was Owen's third in his last four outings and he now sits at second on the team in total points with seven.
 
It looked like St. Thomas had some momentum brewing when Arian Mehrang was shown his second yellow card in the 76th minute, but the Tommies had a player shown his second yellow just six minutes later and both teams played the final eight minutes with 10 men. Alex Flowers would make two saves in the game's final five minutes to preserve the lead and it went final at 1-0 in favor of Western Illinois.
 
Caleb Ragland led the team in shots with two as the Leathernecks out-shot St. Thomas 12-7 (5-2 on goal) and took four corners to UST's three, while drawing 14 fouls and baiting the opposing attackers into four offside calls. Sofian Maghouz played 39 minutes off the bench, his first appearance since starting against Omaha on Sept. 24, while Flowers, Rodrigues, Xavier Brown and Marco Presta played the game's full 90 minutes.
 
Saturday's shutout was the second of the season for Western Illinois and drops their average goals allowed to 1.29 for the season, which is good for the third-lowest mark in the Summit League. Western's offense has also shown massive improvements when compared with last season, as the team has now scored 13 goals with three games remaining this season after scoring six all of last year. This year also marks the first time since the 2019 fall season that multiple players have scored multiple goals in a season, with Xavier Brown, Jack Immesote, Muazu Sagir and Kyle Owen all having scored at least twice.
 
Western is on the road for the next matchup, facing Southern Indiana at 6 p.m. on Wednesday (Oct. 26).
 
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