CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team picked up their second Ohio Valley Conference win of the season on Thursday afternoon as they defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers by a score of 3-0 behind a four-point performance from
Luca Bartoni. With the victory, the Lions improve to 2-0 in the OVC for the first time since joining the conference back in 2023.
The first half saw Lindenwood have three quality chances within the first 15 minutes of action.
Matteo Landais received a pass off the foot of
Josh Francombe for an open look at the goal in the 8th minute. Landais made a move around the Panther defender and sent a shot just wide of the goal as the game remained tied at 0. Seven minutes later, the Lions got on the board on their second quality chance of the contest.
Bruno Fornes sent a pass wide to the right side of the field to a running Landais. Landais sent a cross pass in stride off the pass from Fornes and found
Luca Bartoni who tapped it in the back of the net to give Lindenwood the 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. Immediately after the goal was scored, Bartoni had another great chance to score his second goal of the game, but the 6'1 Senior didn't put enough on the shot as the EIU goalkeeper would make a diving save to keep the Panthers down one.
Gavin Roberts got the start in net for the Lions, and recorded two first half saves on seven total shots from EIU, as the score would remain 1-0 at the break.
In the second half, Lindenwood added two more goals in the 58th and 63rd minute to take command of the game.
Maxime Legai scored his first goal of the season in the 58th minute after
Luca Bartoni received a pass downfield to create a two-on-one opportunity for the Lions. Bartoni got deep into the box and passed it across the field to a wide open Legai to extend the Lion lead to 2-0. Five minutes later, Bartoni recorded his second assist of the game as he went around an EIU defender and found
Jozef Palushaj in the middle of the box for Palushaj's first goal of the season and the Lions third goal of the game.
Lindenwood's defense posted it's seventh shutout of the season and allowed 13 shots in the game, with only four being on goal.
Gavin Roberts stopped all four shots on goal to pick up his first clean sheet of the season.
The Lions will now return to St. Charles, Missouri for their OVC home opener on Sunday as they will host the Western Illinois Leathernecks. Kick off will be at 3 p.m.
