EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer hits the road in the Ohio Valley Conference, making visits to Western Illinois University Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and Liberty University Sunday at noon. USI has four matches and two weeks left in the 2024 regular season.
 
The Screaming Eagles, currently, are sixth in the Ohio Valley with four points after Sunday's tie with the University of the Incarnate Word. USI is one point ahead of seventh place WIU and three points behind fifth-place IWU.
 
The top six teams advance to the OVC Championship at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville November 10-16.
 
Following this week's road swing, the Eagles finish the regular season with a split home and away week. USI's final home match of 2024 is October 31 versus Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at 6 p.m. and November 3 at 1 p.m.
 
USI fans can attend all Men's Soccer 2024 home matches for free, courtesy of a sponsorship from ProRehab. Game coverage for 2024, including links to live stats and video streams, can be found on USIScreamingEagles.com.
 
USI Men's Soccer Week 8 Notes:
USI snaps losing streak: The USI Screaming Eagles snapped a three-match losing streak with a 0-0 draw Sunday versus the University of the Incarnate Word. USI sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Klott led USI with 10 saves in the match, two short of tying a career-best.

Eagles lost three-straight 2-0: The Eagles lost three-straight matches, 2-0, after falling in the homestand opener to Houston Christian University.

USI looking for offense: USI is in a scoring drought and searching for offense. The Eagles have not scored in the last 370 minutes of action, since posting a 2-1 win over Eastern Illinois University on September 29.

Leading the offense: The Eagles are led offensively by freshman midfielder Ahiro Nakamae, who has seven points on three goals and one assist. Sophomore forward Jackson Mitchell follows with six points on two goals and two assists. 

In the OVC: Freshman midfielder Ahiro Nakamae is tied for seventh in the OVC overall with three goals scored and tied for ninth in total points with seven. Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Klott is tied for sixth in the OVC with one shutout and leads the OVC with 67 saves (5.15 per match).

WIU in 2024: The Leathernecks of WIU fell to 6-7-1 and 1-4-0 in the OVC after a 1-0 loss at Lindenwood University to end last week. WIU had opened OVC play with three-straight losses before rebounding to defeat Liberty University, 1-0, last Thursday.

USI vs. WIU: WIU leads the all-time series with USI, which dates to 1980, 3-2-1. The last meeting in 2022 ended in a 1-1 draw at Strassweg Field when both teams were members of the Summit League.

Liberty in 2024: The Liberty Flames are 5-5-1 overall and 3-2-0 in the OVC after losing a pair on the road last week in league play. The losses snapped Liberty's three-match winning streak to start October.

USI vs. Liberty: USI and Liberty tied in the first-ever meeting between the two teams last year at Strassweg Field, 1-1.

USI won back-to-back matches: USI won back-to-back matches for the first time since October of the 2021 season during the homestand, posting wins over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1-0) and EIU (2-1) in September.

Klott posts career-high at SIUE: Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Klott posted a career-high with 12 saves in the loss to SIUE.   

Martindale gets first USI goal: Senior defender Brock Martindale scored his first USI career goal versus EIU, the game-winner.

Davila's goal: Freshman forward David Davila posted his first collegiate goal in the match at the University of Evansville. 

Nakamae had three goals in three matches: Freshman midfielder Ahiro Nakamae was the first USI freshman to have three goals in his first three matches since Eric Ramirez had three goals in three matches in 2016. Ramirez would score a goal in six of his first eight matches and would lead USI in scoring with 21 points on 10 goals and one assist as a freshman in 2016.   

Frye listed as OVC Player to Watch: USI senior forward Jaron Frye is listed as an OVC Player to Watch. Frye missed last season with an injury.

OVC Preseason Poll: USI was picked last in the OVC Preseason poll after going 1-6-3 in the league's inaugural season.