ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's soccer (6-5-1, 2-2-0 OVC) fell on Thursday to the defending Ohio Valley Conference Champions SIUE Cougars (6-3-2, 4-0-0 OVC) by a final score of 2-0. The Lions battled SIUE to the end, surrendering both goals within the final 10 minutes of the match.
"Incredibly disappointing to not earn more from our effort," said head coach
Kris Bertsch. "So proud of our guys for how they competed and played together. The margins are small in tight games and a play or call here or there can decide games. Tonight, it did not go our way. But I am very proud of how our guys represented Lindenwood Soccer and our amazing University."
It was a tough task on Thursday going against one of the best offenses in the conference, but the Lions stood their ground for the majority of the match. Lindenwood allowed 27 shots against SIUE with
Enzo Gil making six saves and
Mekhi Wright making another save as a defender.
Lindenwood went blow for blow in the first half at Hunter Stadium with the score knotted up at 0-0 heading into the break. Lindenwood was held to just four shots with three coming on net. SIUE posted 14 shots landing five on goal.
Wright,
Henrique Perestrelo and
Noe Bijou played the majority of minutes on defense for the Lions.
Parker Smith and
Salomon Oniangue led the Lions in shots with three each and both landed a shot on goal.
Going down to the wire, SIUE's Nacho Abeal was fouled inside the box by
Jermaine Mentoor with 9:02 left in the match. Abeal nailed the bottom left of the box as Gil dove right for the first goal of the match.Â
Abeal would later score during the 89th minute of action with a shot in the bottom right of the net. He was assisted by Stephan Moreira. Lindenwood doubled their shots from the first half to eight, but fell short. The Lions are currently 1-1 during their three match home stand.
Lindenwood will return home on Sunday, Oct. 13th at 3:00 p.m. CT when they host Western Illinois at Hunter Stadium. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.
