The Lindenwood women's soccer team squeaked out on a win on the road in St. Louis, Mo. Sunday night against Maryville after a penalty kick goal by Kat Roe proved to be the difference in the 2-1 victory.
The first half between the Lady Lions and Saint played similar to Thursday's battle against Concordia. Each team shared opportunities to get on the board, but both goalkeepers knocked the chances away. Roe and Becky Roberts had plans to score for Lindenwood, but after the former sailed a shot high, the latter had her opportunity squandered when Saints' goalkeeper Alison Riddle rejected the shot.
Each net-minder tallied one save in the half, but Lindenwood held the edge in corner kicks with two compared to Maryville's one.
No more than 68 seconds into the second half, Roberts did what she successfully attempted on Friday and gave the Lady Lions a lead when she put the ball in the back of the net with assists from Taylor Wade and Payton Williams.
After Lindenwood was given another corner kick opportunity, Maryville controlled the ball down field and Casey Gonzales tied the game at one with her first goal on the young season. Erin Ginsberg tallied the assist on the score.
Lauren Greenstein turned away a shot by Maryville in the 70', and the match was virtually silent for 15 minutes with each team committing a couple fouls. Roe capitalized when the Saints committed a foul in the 18-yard box and gave the Lady Lions a 2-1 lead with under five minutes left in the match.
Maryville would not go away without fight. After an attack with 30 seconds left in regulation, the Saints earned a corner kick and Allison Verville found the foot of Kayla Torry. Torry, however, shot high of the net as time expired to avoid Lindenwood going to consecutive overtime matches to begin the season.
Head coach Laurie Kaminski marvelled over her team's toughness after the match. "This team is finding a way to win," Kaminski said. After the double overtime win on Friday, the victory over "a good Maryville team says a lot about the character of our [sqaud]."
In the second half, Greenstein turned away the lone shot on goal from Maryville to earn her second win to begin her freshman season at Lindenwood. Also shining in her first collegiate campaign, Williams tallied her second assist for the year. Roberts is already one goal away from tying her 2015 total, and still looks to get closer to her freshman number of seven. Roe's goal was in her first match of the season, as she sat out against Concordia on Friday.
In total on the day, Maryville had six shots compared to Lindenwood's five, with each team putting three on net. The Lady Lions held the edge in corner kicks as they had six opportunities. Lindenwood also committed 12 fouls to the Saints' 13, with Maryville being issues two yellow cards.
The win improves the team to 2-0-0 and travels to Rolla, Mo. to battle Missouri S&T on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Kaminski continued, "We battled hard tonight and have to recover, and get ready to face another tough team on Tuesday night." Kaminski sits at 99 career wins with a chance to reach the century mark against an in-state rival.
