Men's Soccer running to bench after goal

Men’s Soccer Entertains Eureka in Makeup Match

Kickoff set for 5 p.m. at Neis Field

9/23/2025 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.- The Illinois Wesleyan University men's soccer team looks forward to a make-up match with Eureka College Wednesday, Sept. 24 at Neis Field. The contest was previously slated for Wednesday, Sept 3., but was postponed due to weather.

After suffering its first loss of the season last week, IWU enters the match 4-1-2. Sophomore Ben Lyons (Orland Park, Ill.-Carl Sandburg) continued his dominance a week ago as the forward accounted for the Titans' lone goal in the two matches. Lyons tallied his career-high fifth goal of the year during the Illinois College match, it was an acrobatic scissor kick that whipped past the goalkeeper. Lyons keeps adding to his team lead in points (12) and goals (5).

An injured Titan starting rotation has led to the emergence of freshman Hunter Reinberg (Washington, Mo.- St. Francis Borgia) and sophomore transfer Byle Brickman (Edwardsville, Ill-Edwardsville). Reinberg has started four matches and has recorded a shot on goal. Brickman has started two games and recorded his first point as a Titan with an assist against Illinois College.

Entering the last week of non-conference play, Illinois Wesleyan leads the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in goals with 15. Its 42 total points is good for second in the CCIW, while its 1.71 assists per game ranks third.

Defensively, Illinois Wesleyan has pursued the ball with the same consistency. The defensive trio that is made up of senior captain Nick McCully (Peoria, Ill- Richwoods, senior Kalabi Kamau (Alpharetta, Ga- Marist School), and junior Jackson Coleman (Pfluegerville, Texas- Cedar Park) have limited scoring chances for the opposition, and has allowed one goal-or-less in the last four matches. In goal, senior Sam Kedzior (Cary, Ill-Cary Grove) ranks second in the CCIW with one shutout and third in goals against average (1.028) and save percentage (.750).

Eureka enters 4-4-1 and 0-2-0 away from its own turf. The Red Devils are led by senior transfer Joyce Kabesa, who ranks 13th in the nation in goals with 10. The senior secured a hat trick in the first game of the year against Kuyper. Most recently, Eureka dropped a 2-1 match at Ripon Sunday, Sept. 22. The Maroon and Gold picked up its most recent victory, 2-1, Tuesday, Sept. 16 against Maranatha Baptist.

Separated by 25 miles, the two teams have met just once prior with the Green and White leading the all time series 1-0. The lone matchup came a year ago, Thursday, Sept. 5, with a 1-nil IWU win powered by a then-freshman Elsworth McIntosh's (Lake in the Hills, Ill.-Harry D. Jacobs) game-winning goal.

Illinois Wesleyan and Eureka will kickoff at 5 p.m. with a live stream and live stats available at iwusports.com.

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