ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's soccer (6-5-6, 3-2-4 OVC) loses only their second Ohio Valley Conference match of the season against the conference leader SIUE (13-0-3, 8-0-1 OVC) by a score of 1-0. The Lions allowed just three shots on goal in the loss.

"Tremendous effort by our guys," said head coach Kris Bertsch. "We created a number of quality chances and out-shot our opponent but unfortunately the hand ball in the box and penalty kick was the difference in the match."

The first 45 minutes of play was a defensive battle with just a total of six shots taken with two of them on goal. Lindenwood's own Enzo Gil made one save in the first half to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard.

SIUE's offense came out of the gate to start the match with four shots. Cameron Caldwell was the hero during the 27th minute of play when he raced to the goal to kick the ball out and keep SIUE off the scoreboard. Caldwell was one of eight Lions to play all 90 minutes.

It was a defensive battle coming out of halftime that saw no goals up until the 58th minute of play. With the Lions playing back on defense, Cooper Wilson was called for a handball in the box resulting in a penalty kick.

SIUE's Moreira Stephan scored his fifth goal of the season off of the penalty giving the Cougars the 1-0 lead. It would be the only goal in the match on Thursday night.

Lindenwood's offense continued to push the pace late in the match. Caldwell had a shot in the 75th minute that was saved by SIUE's Sam Gomez. Luke Neely had the best opportunity to tie the match at 1-1 in the 82nd minute, but Gomez made a play on the ball to secure the win for the Cougars.

The Lions would end the night with 10 total shots including four on goal by four different Lions. SIUE's Gomez moves to 13-0-3 in goal on the season while Gil drops to 6-5-5.

"We have to keep our heads up, move on, and focus on our final regular season match on Sunday," said Bertsch.

Lindenwood will be back in action on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. for their final regular season match of the season at Southern Indiana. Lindenwood will then have a week off before playing in the OVC Championships held on the campus of SIUE. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.