The Lindenwood men's soccer team opened its 2016 campaign with a 2-1 victory at the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons on Thursday evening from Don Dallas Soccer Field in St. Louis, Mo.

After playing scoreless for the first 15 minutes, the Lions struck first and took a 1-0 lead. With 15:06 showing on the clock, Lindenwood's Thomas Hutcheson fired a shot that deflected off of the Missorui-St. Louis keeper and found the back of the net.

However, the Lions lead was short lived, as the Tritons evened the score 1-1 at the 22:36 mark of the first-half. DJ Bednar tallied the score for Missouri-St. Louis.
Lindenwood regained the lead 9:49 after the Triton's score on the strength of Hutcheson's second goal of the evening. Assisting on the second Lions goal of the game was Stefan Andric. After outshooting Missouri-St. Louis 8-3 in the first-half, Lindenwood took the 2-1 edge into the halftime intermission.

The Lions controlled play during much of the second-half, outshooting the Tritons 9-5 over the final 45 minutes of action. Lindenwood goalkeeper, Aleksa Nenadic turned in two saves during the second period, including one during the final minute of play to preserve the 2-1 victory.

In the end, the Lions held the advantage in shots (17-8), shots on goal (11-4), and corner kicks (6-4). The Tritons had the edge in saves, as keeper Jack Filla registered nine saves to Nenadic's three.

With the non-conference victory, Lindenwood moves to 1-0 this season. Following the defeat, Missouri-St. Louis stands at 0-1. The Lions will return to action on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. for a neutral site match versus Truman State. The match will be played in Quincy, Ill.