CHARLESTON, Ill. - Lindenwood men's soccer (9-5-3, 5-2-2 OVC) picked up a huge win heading down the stretch of the season after defeating Eastern Illinois (2-11-2, 1-7-1 OVC) by a final score of 2-0. The Lions' have one game remaining this season before the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"Eastern Illinois at home is always a difficult opponent," said head coach Kris Bertsch. "We know the first game was not going to reflect the second time playing these guys. They made us really work for it, and we got a goal late in the game and we got the second goal to seal the win."

Keeping up with their trends this season, Lindenwood posted their fifth OVC shutout of the season. All five Lindenwood wins have come in shutout fashion. Lindenwood ranks second in the OVC in shutouts during conference play behind SIUE.

The offense today totaled 15 shots with four coming on net. Eastern Illinois had just eight shots on Thursday but made the defense work posting five on goal. Goal keeper Enzo Gil provided Lindenwood with a boost in net posting four saves while earning his sixth shutout of the season (second in the OVC).

The first half was a defensive stand-off, but Lindenwood had multiple opportunities in the box but were stoned away by the EIU defense. Matteo Boasso and Ethan Blake both had opportunities to strike first but EIU's Chad Smith denied the duo.

Lindenwood had just five shots in the first half while Eastern Illinois was limited to just one by Khoury Sebastian. Noe Bijou and Cameron Caldwell led the defense through the first 45 minutes of action.

The Lions' came roaring out in the second half posting 10 shots scoring two goals. Isaac Johnson scored his first career goal on Thursday during the 73rd minute of play. Johnson got the ball after multiple shots by the Lions coming off a corner kick, but he was able to corral the ball and nail it in the lower left of the net.

Blake scored his team best eighth goal of the season after being foul in the box resulting in a penalty kick. Blake has now scored in four of his last five matches and has scored in six of LU's nine OVC matches. Coming in the 80th minute, Blake secured the Lions win with a PK off the left side of the net. Blake moves to 3-3 this season on penalty kicks.

Lindenwood's defense provided a challenge for the Panthers' offense. Gil picked up three more saves in the second half while Johnson knocked a ball out of the net before he went on to score the game-winning goal.

Senior day is up next for the Lions as they will take on Southern Indiana on Sunday, Nov. 3rd with a 1:00 p.m. CT kick-off time. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.