Game #7
Lindenwood (1-3-2, 0-0-0 OVC)
at Le Moyne (0-3-1, 0-0-0 NEC)
Match Information:
Date: Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023
Location: Syracuse, N.Y.
Venue: Ted Grant Field
First Kick: 11:00 a.m. CT
All-Time Series: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting
Live Stats: Stats
Live Video: Video

Matchup
Lindenwood men's soccer heads northeast to Syracuse, N.Y. as they take on new Division I opponent Le Moyne College at Ted Grant Field. Earlier this week, Lindenwood picked up a point in the standings with a 2-2 tie at Evansville. Le Moyne suffered a loss on Tuesday against Monmouth University 2-0.

The Ohio Valley Conference began their inaugural season of men's soccer as Lindenwood was picked to finish fourth out of eight teams. Utah Tech is currently in fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 1-2-0 record.

Previous Match Recap
 Lindenwood finished Wednesday's match with a 2-2 draw at Missouri Valley opponent Evansville. Lions had 12 shots and four shots on goal in the tie.

Both teams were very even in the first half as the score was 1-1 after the first 45 minutes of play. The Lions had five shots in the first half compared to seven by the Aces of Evansville. Both goalies also with a pair of saves at the end of the first.

Evansville struck in the 18th minute of play as Kai Phillip scored in the top right of the net against Lindenwood's goalie Gavin Roberts (assisted by David Hernandez). Parker Smith evened the match with his first of two goals on the night during the 35th minute of play. Smith hit a defender with his first shot then recovered the ricochet to score. Luke Neely and Ethan Blake had shots on goal in the first half.

Lindenwood and Evansville both had similar shot totals in the second half of play with the Lions picking up seven and the Aces earning eight. Roberts had three of his five saves come in the second 45 minutes of Wednesday's match.

Smith put the Lions up 2-1 after his second goal of the evening during the 55th minute as he snuck it in at the bottom right of the net past goal keeper Jacob Madden. Lindenwood would hold the lead for less that 20 minutes when the Ace's Nkosi Graham scored in the 74th minute.

Both teams made runs late in the match to try and sneak out a victory, but the match remained a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation. Evansville had eight corner kicks in the match while the Lions had none. Henrique Perestrelo also had three shot attempts in the draw.

Lindenwood Leaders
After his two goal performance on Wednesday, Smith now leads the Lions in goals with two. Three others are right behind him with one each. Cole Hutson, one goal on the season, leads the team in shots (6) and shots on goal (3).

Defensively, Noe Bijou currently leads the team in minutes played with 533. He is one of only four Lions that have started every single match this season. Goalie Enzo Gil leads the team with eight saves this season while Roberts sits at five all coming in their match against Evansville.

Head Coach: Kris Bertsch
Bertsch enters his first season as the head coach of Lindenwood men's soccer during the 2023 fall season. He comes to Lindenwood after spending five seasons at Saint Louis University as the top assistant coach where he helped guide the Billikens to an impressive 53-22-14 record.  Individually, Bertsch has been recognized as one of the Top Assistant Coaches in the country four different times. 

Saint Louis captured back-to-back Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2021 and 2022, resulting in two-straight NCAA Men's Soccer Championship appearances.  In 2022, Bertsch and the SLU staff earned the honor as the NCAA Division I Southeast Region Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches.

Up Next
The Lions return home next week on Tuesday, Sept. 19 as they take on the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis at Hunter Stadium. The match is slated for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff and will be streamed on ESPN+. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.