ST. CHARLES, Mo. - It was a tale of two halves for Lindenwood men's soccer (1-2-1, 0-0-0 OVC) on Friday evening at Hunter Stadium as the Lions picked up their first win of the season against the Purple Aces of Evansville (4-1-0, 0-0-0 MVC). The Lions scored two of their three goals in the final eight minutes of the match.
"We believed we were going to tie the game and eventually hopefully win it," said head coach
Kris Bertsch. "We just had to stay the course, make plays and I think we did that and I am really happy that we were able to fight all the way to the end and get the victory."
Lindenwood's offense posted 13 shots including seven on goal while the Purple Aces had nine total shots with five on net. The Lions' defense held Evansville to just two shots in the second half helping the Lions to a comeback victory.
Evansville struck first during the ninth minute of action with an unassisted goal by Jose Vivas in the bottom left of the net. The Purple Aces again scored in the 21st minute with an upper left goal by Nacho Diaz-Caneja from 20-yards out.
The Lions' offense had multiple chances in the first half to score and were fortunate with the first of two own goals by Evansville. After a shot by
John Gates on the right side of the box, the ball deflected off a Evansville defender and went past goalkeeper Michal Mroz for LU's first of three unanswered goals.
Lindenwood's offense came out more aggressive during the second half resulting in five of Mroz's saves for Evansville. He ended the night with six saves and three goals allowed while Lindenwood's
Enzo Gil posted three saves and allowed two first half goals.
Heading into the 83rd minute of play, Lindenwood received a corner kicker after a deflection out of bounds.
Ethan Blake lined up the corner kick and missed it wide right, but hit the arm of an Evansville defender helping the Lions tie the match at 2-2.
With just under two minutes left to play, Blake was fouled in Evansville's box resulting in a penalty kick. Blake was close to scoring all-night for the Lions, and finally reached the back of the net with his first goal of the season to give Lindenwood a 3-2 victory.
The Lions will be back in action on Sunday as they take on Westminster College (Mo.) at 3:00 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.
