SXU Seniors Celebrate Senior Night in Final Game of the Season SXU Athletics Website
And just like that the 2025 regular season has come to an end. The Cougars finish out their final three games going 1-1-1 and sit in 3rd place in the CCAC (Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) with an 11-4-3 record heading into the playoffs.
Game 1: (W) SXU:2, St.Francis:0
The Cougars asserted dominance in a 2-0 win against University of St.Francis Fighting Saints as the Cougars improved to 11-3-2 and recorded their fifth straight shutout.
Heading into play against the University of St.Francis, the Cougars had won five of their last six games and were looking to extend their win streak to a season high of 4 consecutive wins.
Through the first 45 minutes the Cougars defense continued to play at a high caliber as they held the Fighting Saints to just one shot in the first half. Although the Cougs put pressure on the St.Francis defense they were also held score through the first half but carried momentum going into the break.
The first goal of the match would come just 4 minutes into the second half as redshirt senior forward Jaedan Aguilera broke the scoreless tie by getting past a defender and nailing a shot from about 10 yards out for his team leading ninth goal of the season.
SXU continued to put pressure on the St.Francis defense, eventually icing the game in the 89th minute when junior midfielder Mark Vitaly Hul intercepted a pass and converted his sixth goal of the season meanwhile, redshirt goalkeeper Daniel Martinez earned his seventh shutout of the season which lead to his fourth CCAC defensive player of the week award as the Cougars get a 2-0 win for their 11th win of the season.
Game 2: (L) SXU:1, Olivet Nazarene University:2
In a crucial CCAC match the Cougars hosted the number one team in the CCAC the Olivet Nazarene University Tigers looking to hand them their first loss in conference play.
Things looked promising early as SXU took an early 1-0 lead in the 7th minute as sophomore forward Diego Garica scored his fifth goal of the season with the assist from senior Jaedan Aguilera his fifth of the season.
Not only did the Cougars take a 1-0 lead into the half but also momentum as they ended the half putting a lot of pressure on the Tigers defense.
The Tigers looked like a completely different team coming out of the break as they played more aggressive and found the equalizer in minute 58. The dagger would come in minute 72 as the cougars were never able to find an answer to a strong Tiger team.
Despite a hard fought battle the Cougars fell 2-1 to the Tigers as their record fell to 11-4-2 with just one game left to play in the regular season.
Game 3: (D) SXU:0, Holy Cross:0
Heading into the final game of the season the Cougars looked to shake off a tough loss last game for their Senior Night as they hosted Holy Cross College at Deaton Field on Saturday Nov. 1.
The SXU defense which had been their strong suit all year showed why as they played yet another fantastic game by keeping a high scoring Holy Cross team off the scoreboard giving their offense a chance to win their 12 game of the year.
However that was not the case as the Holy Cross defense showed an uncharacteristically strong defense performance
As they kept a strong Cougar offense to a scoreless result.
Despite the scoreless tie goalkeeper Daniel Martinez collected his 9th shutout of the season which moved him to sixth all time in program history.
With this result the Cougars end their season with a promising record of 11-4-3 as they claim the 3rd seed overall in the CCAC conference and will host a quarterfinal game at home on Nov. 5 at 7pm against Trinity Christian College.