The 2023 SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer team represented Southern Illinois University Edwardsville during the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season, the school's 57th season. The Cougars were coached by Cale Wassermann. The team played their home games on Bob Guelker Field at the Ralph Korte Stadium as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
Preseason The Cougars returned thirteen players from 2022 along with four redshirts. They are joined by three true freshmen and six transfer students from other schools. The roster includes players from eight different countries—14 from the US, 4 from England, 3 from Spain, and one each from Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, and Russia.
The big preseason news came in March, when the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) announced the inauguration of a Men's Soccer Championship. Four full members of the OVC would be joined by four associate members. As the Cougars were departing the Missouri Valley Conference, Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, and Southern Indiana were leaving the Summit League. They were joined by Chicago State, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, and Liberty.
In May, Western Illinois University joined the Ohio Valley Conference. However, the OVC men's soccer schedule had already been drawn up, including quite a bit of air travel. Also, Western's departure from the Conference of which it was the last remaining charter member would have left the Summit League with only five members for men's soccer, fewer than the six teams required to maintain the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Therefore, Western Illinois will remain in the Summit League for men's soccer for 2023 and join the rest of its teams in the OVC in 2024.
In August, the OVC head coaches and communications directors voted to pick the preseason favorite to win the inaugural OVC Men's Soccer Championship. Teams received 7 points for a first-place votes, 6 for a second-place vote, etc.
2023 OVC Men's Soccer Predicted Order of Finish
1. Liberty (8 first-place votes) – 88 points
2. SIUE (4) – 86
3. Houston Christian (4) – 81
4. Lindenwood – 62
5. Incarnate Word – 53
6. Southern Indiana – 29
7. Eastern Illinois – 25
8. Chicago State – 24
Regular season The Cougars opened the season visiting Conway, Arkansas to play former MVC rival Central Arkansas, now a member of the ASUN Conference. Just over 13 minutes into the game, Stephen Moreira fired a pass into the box, and UCA was called for a handball. Ignacio "Nacho" Abeal Pou scored on the penalty kick to give SIUE the 1–0 lead that they held through halftime, which was extended 10 minutes when a light standard blacked out. Central Arkansas tied the game in the 62nd minute, but in the 78th minute "Nacho's" pass hit Moreira in the box, and he turned and shot through traffic for the winning goal. The Bears outshot the Cougars 12–10 and 5–4 in shots on goal, but SIUE extended its streak over UCA to 9–0–2 in the last eleven meetings.
SIUE hosted Butler of the Big East Conference in what has become an annual affair. Sam Layton opened the scoring with a header on a corner kick from Mitchell Murphy in the 19th minute. A second Cougar goal was negated in the 32nd minute by an offside call, then Butler tied the score in the 34th minute, with the tie extending through halftime. In the 50th minute, a Butler foul set up SIUE's second penalty kick in two games, and Alsadiq Hasan chipped a shot into the left corner to give the Cougars a 2–1 lead. Six minutes later, Mitchell Murphy stole the ball from the Butler keeper at the top of the box and passed it to Hasan who slid into the empty net for his second goal and the Cougars sixth consecutive home opener win.
Following the opening week's play, the OVC named Aaron Crabtree the Defensive Player of the Week and Sam Gomez the Goalkeeper of the Week.
The 32nd annual Bronze Boot Game versus St. Louis moved to the neutral CityPark (home of St. Louis City SC) and was played before a crowd of 8,574. The Billikens entered the game ranked #15 and carrying a 15–0–2 streak since the Cougars last won the Bronze Boot in 1982. The two teams felt each other out during the scoreless first half. In the 50th minute, Mitchell Murphy took a pass from Andres Delascio and booted it into the net to put SIUE on top 1–0. In the 73rd minute, Nic Muench found himself with the ball 15 yards out and one-on-one with the Bill's goalkeeper. He shot and scored the first goal of his Cougar career to put SIUE up 2–0 and ensure a Cougar win over the Billikens for the first time in 41 years. Sam Gomez kept a "clean sheet" in SIUE's goal, but he had to make a point blank save with three seconds left to secure the shutout. "SIUE is an experienced team and they fought very well," said Kevin Kalish, both Saint Louis U's coach and a former SIUE head coach. "I thought their level of intensity was higher than ours. They were the better team tonight."
As a result of defeating 15th ranked St. Louis the United Soccer Coaches' poll had the Cougars ranked #18 in the NCAA.
After the second week of play, the OVC named Mitchell Murphy the Offensive Player of the Week, Will Harris the Co-Defensive Player of the Week, and again named Sam Gomez the Goalkeeper of the Week. Additionally, Nic Muench was named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week.
Kansas City outshot visiting SIUE 15–7, and both sides had four shots on goal, with both keepers making three saves. The Roos scored at the back post after a counterattack in the 59th minute. “Kansas City is a tough team,” SIUE Head Coach Cale Wassermann said. “We gave up a goal we would like to have back,” he added. With the Cougars trailing 1–0 in the 86th minute, Mitchell Murphy charged into the Roos’ box and was fouled by the goalkeeper. Pavel Dashin made the penalty shot for his first Cougar goal and a 1–1 draw.
SIUE has started the year unbeaten through five games for the first time since 2018, after the Cougars earned a late 1–0 win over Western Illinois. SIUE outshot Western Illinois 15–9 and had an 8–4 advantage in shots on goal, but despite the Cougars' dominance, the score remained knotted at zero until the 80th minute. Then, the Leathernecks failed to completely clear after a corner kick, Stephan Moreira gained control of the ball and passed to Jake Karolczak, whose left-footed strike from 21 yards away curled perfectly into the upper corner for the winning goal. "We played 18 guys tonight," head coach Cale Wassermann said. "We're extremely deep. It helps us in training and helps us rotate some guys. Our goal is to be fresh to the end of games. That's two games in a row where we've scored in the last 10 minutes of a game." Ten different Cougar players took a shot Tuesday and Karolczak became the eighth different player to score a goal for SIUE. This was the Cougars' fourth consecutive win in the series with their in-state and soon-to-be Ohio Valley Conference rival, who fell to 0–5–1 with the loss.
The Cougars gave up an early goal at Bradley when in the sixth minute, a long shot hit the post and came out to the middle of the box, was passed to the penalty spot, and fired into the net. Any chance for SIUE to reply was delayed by an hour and a half time out for a thunderstorm to pass. In the 57th minute, Andres Delascio picked off a clearance near midfield and the ball was passed to Aaron Crabtree, to Alsadiq Hasan, back to Delascio, to Ignacio Abeal Pou on the left side, just outside the box. Nacho worked his way into the box and hit Nic Muench, who headed the ball home from eight yards out for the tying goal and his second of the season. SIUE matched its season high with 15 shots, 11 coming in the second half. "We were a little slow in the attack before the delay," Cougar coach Cale Wassermann said. "In the second half we had chance after chance and just couldn't find the second goal." Bradley took 13 shots, seven on goal, and Sam Gomez tied his career high with six saves in the game.
The OVC awarded Sam Gomez his third Goalkeeper of the Week honor of the season after keeping SIUE undefeated on the season when the team beat Western Illinois and tied Bradley.
The Cougars played Division III Webster University in the final non-conference game. Team co-captain Alsadiq Hasan gave SIUE the lead when he scored a penalty kick after a Webster handball in the box in the 30th minute. The Gorlocks scored in the 53rd minute to knot the score. Twentyseven seconds later, Stephan Moreira took a pass from Bobby Pauly and put SIUE back on top with a shot from the top of the box. Hasan scored his second goal of the game in the 79th minute with a left-footed rocket from 20 yards out; It was his second two-goal game of the season. With SIUE's 3–1 win, the Cougars are in their longest unbeaten streak since 1997.
After the Cougar defense limited Webster to only two shots, Wes Gibson was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week.
In its premier Ohio Valley Conference soccer game, SIUE turned in its highest scoring output since returning to NCAA Division I play, dominating Southern Indiana 6–0 in Evansville. "The boys were awesome tonight," SIUE coach Cale Wassermann said. "We had a good mix of creativity and confidence, and we took smart chances. I liked what we did in possession, and we kept a clean sheet." The Cougar scoring started when SIUE took a ball away from the Southern Indiana backline in the 18th minute, Stephan Moreira passed to Jake Karolczak, who passed to Alsadiq Hasan, who fired in his team-leading fifth goal of the year. Mitchell Murphy made it 2–0 in the 26th minute, again coming after a giveaway, with Karolczak getting his second assist on the goal. Jacob Bilyeu made it 3–0 before halftime when he took a long pass from Pavel Dashin, cut in and scored at the near post. Andres Delascio made it 4–0 eight minutes into the second half with an assist from Moreira, and Delascio struck again twelve and a half minutes later, assisted by Sam Layton's missed shot. In the 80th minute, Connor Gramke scored a penalty kick for his first Cougar goal. SIUE could have scored more, but Hasan tried to get tricky on the USI goalie and had the Cougars' second penalty kick of the game saved. The Cougars played a total of twenty players in the game, and ten different SIUE players recorded at least a goal or an assist. The Cougars outshot the Screaming Eagles 21–2, and Sam Gomez needed to make only one save en route to his third shutout of the season. SIUE remains unbeaten at 6–0–2.
SIUE and Eastern Illinois had met thirty times since 1968, but not in a conference match since 2010. SIUE outshot EIU 19–5, and Cougars' goalkeeper Sam Gomez turned away both Panthers' shots on goal for his and the Cougars' fourth shutout of the year and second in a row to start the conference season. However, SIUE could not find the back of the net for most of the game. "This was a tough game today," head coach Cale Wassermann said. "We were in control, but just couldn't score there for a while. We could have used a little more efficiency to get a goal earlier." Finally, the chance came on the seventh penalty kick awarded to the Cougars in nine games played this season. Ignacio "Nacho" Abeal Pou took the shot, scoring low and to the right of the EIU goalkeeper. "I am happy for Nacho," Wassermann said. "He stepped up in a big moment." About the Cougars many penalty shots, Wassermann said. ""We're pushing teams much more than we have in the past. We're inside the 18-yard box more than we have been in a while."