The Lindenwood Lady Lions defended their home turf for the second time in three matches to beat Northwest Missouri State 3-2 at Hunter Stadium on Friday night.
It didn't take long before the Lady Lions put up the first score of the match. Just in the fourth minute,
Kat Roe dribbled past the defense into the box and sent one past Bearcat goalkeeper Elizabeth Lee to lead 1-0 early. Just 10 minutes later,
Becky Roberts maneuvered her way into the box past the Northwest Missouri State defense and found
Taylor Wade on the opposite side, who drilled it into the bottom right corner to make the score 2-0 in favor of Lindenwood early in the first half.
The Lady Lions kept up their pressure receiving a couple corner opportunities and a couple more shots on goal, but Lee was able to turn the shots away. After exchanging a couple opportunities the last 10 minutes of the half, the whistle sounded and the Lady Lions headed into halftime up 2-0.
Early in the second half, Northwest Missouri State had a chance when Gianna Huspen took a pass at the top of the box, but Lindenwood goalkeeper
Jordan Gnolfo charged and hit the ball away before the forward could get off a shot. Less than 10 minute later, after a pair of miscues by the defense, Huspen stole the ball and dribbled it past a diving Gnolfo before drilling into the empty net to shrink the Lindenwood lead to 2-1 with 26 minutes left in the second half.
In the 71st minute, a scrum ensued around the top of the box. Lindenwood's
Becky Roberts found a hole in the defense, and shot right through Lee's hands to increase the Lady Lions' lead to 3-1. Northwest Missouri State added a goal with two minutes left when Danielle Wolfe shot it past a charging Gnolfo, but the score would hold to end 3-2 Lindenwood. The Lady Lions held on to win their third match in the past four.
Becky Roberts scored a goal and tallied an assist to record three points on the match. Lindenwood dominated the box score, out-shooting the Bearcats 24-4, with 15 of those shots being on goal. Each of the Bearcats' shot was on goal. Lindenwood received 12 corner kicks to the Bearcats two.
Lindenwood improves to 4-7-4, and stays at 2-4-2 in the MIAA because of the non-conference rule against Northwest Missouri State. The conference match will take place when the Lady Lions travel to Maryville, Missouri on November 1 in a rematch of the two teams.
Up next for Lindenwood is Missouri Western State when the MIAA opponents battle on Sunday in a 3 p.m. kickoff at Hunter Stadium.
