EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's soccer won its 10th game of the season Saturday, downing Houston Christian 3-1 in front of nearly 2,400 fans at the annual Homecoming game at Korte Stadium.
SIUE remained unbeaten at 10-0-3 and has 10 wins in a season for the first time since the 2016 season and just the fourth time since the return to Division I play in 2008. The Cougars are 5-0-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Houston Christin slipped to 3-6-5 overall and 1-2-3 in OVC play.
Jacob Bilyeu found the back of the net just 2:03 into the game on assists from Alsadiq Hasan and Jake Karolczak.
"It helps when you get a goal early again," Wassermann said. "We pressed and it was a quick combination play from Karolczak and Sadiq (Hasan) that gave us a quick start and a massive result."
Will Harris gave SIUE a 2-0 lead going into the half when he headed home off a corner kick from Stephan Moreira in the 40th minute.
"I'll take a two-goal lead any day of the week especially against a good Houston Christian team which pushed us to the final whistle," Wassermann said.
Pavel Dashin gave SIUE a 3-0 advantage in the 49th minute when Ignacio Abea Pou carried into the box where he was upended. The ball came to Dashin, who slid home from 18 yards out before the foul could be called against HCU.
The Huskies pulled one back in the 74th minute. Ricardo Garcia cashed in from the top of the box when the ball deflected in past SIUE goalkeeper Sam Gomez.
"Obviously we wanted to keep the clean sheet," Wassermann added. "Our third gave us the ability to finish the game in relative comfort even though they were definitely pushing us."
SIUE outshot HCU 15-10. Gomez made six saves for SIUE while Alex Aitken made five for HCU.
The win moves the Cougars to 13-2 in Homecoming games since returning to Division I.
"It was a great environment and a massive crowd even with bad weather," Wassermann said. "We're very thankful to all of Cougar Nation who came out and supported us."
SIUE next travels to Chicago State for a Thursday night contest.
