The 2025 SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's soccer team represented Southern Illinois University Edwardsville during the 2025 NCAA Division I men's soccer season, the school's 59th season. The Cougars are coached by Cale Wassermann. The team plays its home games on Bob Guelker Field at the Ralph Korte Stadium as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
Preseason The Cougars returned fourteen players from 2024 as well as three redshirts. They were joined by six freshmen and five transfers from other schools. None of the Cougars' top seven scorers from 2024 return, but most of the defenders do.
Following consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships, SIUE men's soccer was voted the favorites to do it again. The Cougars received 14 of a possible 16 first-place votes and 98 total points in the preseason poll. The top six teams in league play advance to the OVC Championship tournament, with the first and second seeds receiving byes straight through to the semifinal round, and the tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
2025 OVC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll 1. SIUE (14 first-place votes) - 98 points 2. HCU (2) - 69 3. Lindenwood - 67 4. Liberty - 64 5. UIW - 55 6. Western Illinois - 39 7. Eastern Illinois - 38 8. Southern Indiana - 18
Regular season The regular season began on August 21, 2025 following three exhibition games.
The seven game non-conference schedule included three teams--- 21st ranked Denver, 18th ranked Saint Louis, and Kansas City who ended-the season ranked #21-- that were, like the Cougars, in last season's NCAA tournament. All three defeated SIUE, with Saint Louis regaining possession of the Bronze Boot.
Only Evan Howard, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, was able to help replacing the loss of last season's scoring, and the Cougars offense suffered. Only the defense kept the season from being a total disaster. Of the seven nonconfernce opponents, SIUE defeated only Air Force, who finished near the bottom of the NCAA's RPI ratings at number 206 of 213 teams.
After starting the OVC schedule with two loses, the Cougars put together a five game streak with three wins and two draws. However, they then lost two games before ending the season on a winning note.
The final regular season record was a disappointing 5-10-2 with an RPI rating of 167.
Postseason SIUE entered the 2025 Ohio Valley Men's Soccer Championship with its two leading scorers, Evan Howard (8 goals, 3 assists) and Carles Zomeno (2 & 2) out with injuries. Their quarterfinals match was versus Western Illinois, who had defeated the Cougars twice. Led by two grad students, captain defender Wes Gibson and midfielder Ethan Hackenberg, the team put on its best display of both offense and defence for the season. In a contest that could only be described as "chippy", there were thirtyone (31) fouls, with seven yellow cards issued, but Hackenberg scored his only two goals of the season, and SIUE prevailed 2-0.
The OVC Championship semifinal was fourth seeded SIUE versus top-seeded regular season champion Lindenwood on its home field. The Lions fairly well dominated the Cougars during the first half, getting off twelve shots (6 on goal) to the Cougars' four (0), and the home team scored twice. In the second half, with Carles Zomeno back on the field, the Cougars from the quarterfinals returned, monopolizing the offense and playing solid defense, outshooting the Lions 10 to three. However, the home squad packed in its defnse and refused to let the visitors score. The Cougars finished their season with a 6-11-2 record. Lindenwood, the regular season champion is 14-2-3 and will play in Saturday night's OVC Championship game. Through the season, the Cougars lost six games to five schools that made the NCAA Championship tournament.
Honors Two days ahead of the start of the 2025 OVC Championship in St. Charles, Missouri, SIUE's defender Wes Gibson, midfielder Carles Zomeno, and forward Evan Howard were named to the ALL-OVC First Team. Howard and goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler were named to the OVC All-Newcomer Team.
Following Lindenwood's defeat of Houston Chriistian in the OVC Championship game, the OVC All-Tournament Team was announced. Cougar midfielders grad student Ethan Hackenberg and freshman Dan Murray were named to the eleven member squad.
Roster Source=
Buff background indicates returning players from 2024. Pink background indicates players "4redshirted" in 2024. # Name Nationality Height Weight Class Hometown High School Academy/Club Transfer from Goalkeepers 1 Noah Scheidweiler 6'2" 165 Freshman Gasperich, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg FC Swift Hesperange 29 Ethan Kornas 5'11" 150 Redshirt Juunior Huntley, Illinois Huntley Eclipse Select SC 30 Patrick O'Day 6'2" 180 RedshirtJunior O'Fallon, Missouri Liberty Lewis and Clark Defenders 3 Elliott Forestier 5'11" 175 Senior Sydney, Australia Sydney Secondary College Sydney Olympic FC Oklahoma Christian 4 Wesley Gibson* 6'1" 180 Graduate Student Morton, Illinois Morton Central Illinois United 5 Archie McDonnell 6'4" 187 Redshirt Sophomore Leeds, England St Mary's Menston UFCA and Horsforth St. Margaret's 12 Enrique Ezquerro 6'1" 177 Senior Pradejon, Spain Valle del Cidacos Pradejon WVU Tech 13 Paulo Júnior Sousa Rodrigues 6' 176 Freshman Bertrange, Luxembourg FC Rodange 15 Bobby Pauly 6' 165 Junior St. Charles, Missouri Orchard Farm St. Louis Scott Gallagher 16 Garrison Hill 6'2" 175 Redshirt Sophomore Kansas City, Missouri The Pembroke Hill School Sporting Blue Valley SC 19 Colin Bastianoni 6' 170 Redshirt Junior Naperville, Illinois Metea Valley Eclipse SC 20 Mathias Clausen 5'11" 176 Freshman San Jose, Costa Rica Futbol Consultants Desamparados 25 Anton Mosley 6'1" 180 Redshirt Freshman Shiloh, Illinois Belleville-East St. Louis Scott Gallagher 26 Seth Comer 5'11" 165 Freshman Cedar Rapids, Iowa Linn-Mar High School VSA Rush 28 Murray Peart 6" 167 Freshman Eleebana, New South Wales, Australia Newcastle Jets Midfielders 2 Tyler Sargent 5'10" 145 Redshirt Freshman Oakville, Missouri Whitfield School St. Louis City 6 Carles Zomeno 6' 160 Senior Valencia, Spain Salt Lake CC 8 Ethan Hackenberg 5'9" 160 Graduate Student Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United School of Sports Swiss 1.Liga Group 3 Virginia Tech 14 Zach Renz 5'10" 165 Redshirt Junior Wentzville, Missouri Timberland St. Louis Scott Gallagher Elite 18 Ben Perkins 6'2" 165 Redshirt Freshman Affton, Missouri St. John Vianney St. Louis Scott Gallagher 22 Jake Karolczak 5'10" 175 Redshirt Senior St. Charles, Missouri St. Dominic 23 Daniel Murray 5'10" 160 Freshman Croydon, London, England Portsmouth Football Club 24 Karson Gibbs 5'10" 160 Senior St. Charles, Missouri Fort Zumwalt South St. Louis City 2 St. Louis Forwards 7 Ron Arie 6' 170 Sophomore Zikhron Ya'akov, Israel FIU 9 Evan Howard 6'5" 185 Senior Newcastle, England Coastal Carolina 10 Hugo Cornish 6'1" 170 Junior Sydney, Australia William Penn 21 Ryley Gibbs 6' 170 Sophomore O'Fallon, Missouri Fort Zumwalt South St. Louis City 2 27 Dominic Bartoni 6'2" 188 Redshirt Freshman St. Louis, Missouri CBC SMU = Players "redshirted' for the 2025 season. * = Captain
Schedule and results Source=
Exhibitions
Regular season
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Post-season 2025 Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer tournament
Scoring Source= Through game of November 12 PlayerGoalsAssistsPoints Evan Howard 8 3 19 Carles Zomeno 2 2 6 Ethan Hackenberg 2 0 4 Wesley Gibson 1 1 3 Zach Renz 1 1 3 Dominic Bartoni 1 1 3 Hugo Cornish 0 3 3 Ryley Gibbs 1 0 2 Murray Peart 1 0 2 Ben Perkins 1 0 2 Colin Bastianoni 1 0 2 Archie McDonnell 0 2 2 Mathias Clausen 0 1 1 Jake Karolczak 0 1 1 Paulo Júnior Sousa Rodrigues 0 1 1 Elliott Forestier 0 1 1
Statistics Source: Through game of November 12
Field Players # Name Games Starts Minutes Goals Assists Points Shots Shot %age Shots On Goal OG %age Yellow/Red cards Game Winners Penalty Goals/Kicks 9 Evan Howard 16 16 1309 8 3 19 50 .160 24 .480 3-0 2 3-4 6 Carles Zomeno 18 17 1489 2 2 6 28 .071 13 .464 3-0 0 0-0 4 Wesley Gibson 19 18 1658 1 2 4 7 0.173 4 0.571 5-0 0 0-1 8 Ethan Hackenberg 16 11 857 2 0 4 22 0.091 7 .318 5-0 1 1-1 10 Hugo Cornish 19 12 988 0 3 3 25 0.000 11 .440 3-0 0 0-0 14 Zach Renz 18 10 869 1 1 3 9 0.111 5 0.556 0-0 1 0-0 27 Dominic Bartoni 12 5 416 1 0 2 11 0.091 3 0.273 4-0 0 0-0 19 Colin Bastianoni 16 9 791 1 0 2 8 .125 3 .375 3-0 1 0-0 21 Ryley Gibbs 13 3 393 1 0 2 8 0.125 3 0.375 1-0 1 0-0 5 Archie McDonnell 16 16 1392 0 2 2 1 0.000 0 0.000 3-2 0 0-0 28 Murray Peart 10 2 318 1 0 2 3 0.333 2 0.667 0-0 0 0-0 18 Ben Perkins 19 11 931 1 0 2 17 0.059 4 .235 0-0 0 0-0 20 Mathias Clausen 13 9 738 0 1 1 7 0.000 2 0.286 1-0 0 0-0 3 Elliott Forestier 16 10 877 0 1 1 4 0.000 1 0.250 1-0 0 0-0 22 Jake Karolczak 17 7 677 0 1 1 8 0.00 3 0.375 1-1 0 0-0 13 Paulo Júnior Sousa Rodrigues 9 2 272 0 1 1 0 0.000 0 0.000 2-0 0 0-0 1 Noah Scheidweiler 19 19 1633 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 2 Tyler Sargent 2 0 22 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 7 Ron Arie 6 0 98 0 0 0 2 0.000 1 0.500 1-0 0 0-0 12 Enrique Ezquerro 1 0 19 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 15 Bobby Pauly 19 19 1690 0 0 0 2 0.000 0 0.000 1-0 0 0-0 23 Daniel Murray 15 121 930 0 0 0 2 0.000 1 0.500 4-0 0 0-0 24 Karson Gibbs 6 1 193 0 0 0 1 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 25 Anton Mosley 3 0 17 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 29 Ethan Kornas 1 0 77 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 16 Garrison Hill 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 26 Seth Comer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 30 Patrick O'Day 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 0-0 0 0-0 Totals 19 19 18,762 19 17 55 218 0.087 87 .399 44-3 6 4-6 Opponents 19 19 18,790 25 22 72 215 .116 95 .442 40-2 11 1-1 Goalkeepers # Name Games Starts Minutes Goals allowed GA Ave. Saves Save % Wins Loses Ties Shutouts Shots Faced 29 Ethan Kornas 1 0 77:03 1 1.17 3 .750 0 1 0 0 19 1 Noah Scheidweiler 19 19 1632:57 24 1.32 66 .733 6 10 2 5 196 30 Patrick O'Day 0 0 0:00 0 0.000 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 19 19 1720:00 25 1.32 69 .734 6 11 2 5 218Opponents 18 18 1620:00 19 1.06 67 .779 10 6 2 4 205
Additional stats Corner kicks Offsides Fouls Goals/game SIUE 88 33 212 1.00 Opponents 77 34 218 1.22
References