Scott Kane photo.EDWARDSVILLE – SIUE men's soccer turned in its biggest offensive output since returning to Division I on its way to a 5-1 win over Southern Indiana Monday night at Korte Stadium.

The Cougars featured four different goal scorers and saw six different players on the scoresheet in winning their second consecutive game at home. The five goals scored by SIUE are the most since returning to Division I play in 2008. The last time SIUE scored five goals in a game was a 5-0 win over Wisconsin-Parkside in September of 2007, also at Korte Stadium.

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"This is the culmination of a lot of work going back to the spring," SIUE Head Coach Cale Wassermann said. "We have a fairly deep team all around. We have different lineups we can throw out and different groupings of attackers and midfielders that we can put together. It is good to see a lot of different guys getting rewarded for their work."

Pau Palacin scored a pair of goals, netting one in each half and finished with three in the first two games at home.

"He is a dangerous player," Wassermann said of his striker. "He is someone that can get you a goal out of nothing. We had some good service. I credit our midfielders and our outside backs for feeding him in dangerous areas a lot more this week."

Myles Sophanavong picked recorded his first career goal and added an assist for SIUE, both coming on set pieces. Jacob Bilyeu also recorded a goal and an assist for the Cougars.

Sophanavong set up the first goal on a free kick from outside the 18-yard box, swinging a left-footed ball to Max Broughton who headed it down an in to give SIUE a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.

Bilyeu picked off a USI pass just 21 seconds later before playing Palacin into the box for his first of the game to make it 2-0.

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USI got a goal back with eight minutes to play in the half and SIUE led 2-1 at the break.

Sophanavong gave the Cougars their two-goal lead back with just five minutes into the second with a free kick from 25 yards out. His low hard shot found the back of the net for the first goal of his career.

"I don't use this term very often, but Myles is special," Wassermann said. "He was underrated; not a highly-ranked recruit coming out high school. He has so much quality and so much vision. His set piece delivery adds another element. He's been close and that goal has been coming and I am happy for him."

Bilyeu's first of the year in the 55th minute made it 4-1. Mitchell Murphy found him with a pass from the right side to the top of the box where Bilyeu hit a hard shot which deflected off a USI defender before going in.

Palacin got his second in the 65th minute set up by Jack Edwards and Jake Karolczak.

The Cougars outshot the Screaming Eagles 12-5.

Sam Gomez made just one save, playing his second game of the year in goal for the Cougars, who are 2-0 at home for the first time since the 2020 season

"We love playing at home," Wassermann said "We train on this field. We have our routines, and we get to play in front of our own fans, family members and friends. It is a great way to start the home season. We're thrilled with the two wins."

SIUE will return to the road for a Friday match at Western Illinois. Kickoff against the Fighting Leathernecks is set for 4:30.

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