ST. CHARLES, MO. - Lindenwood Men's Soccer (10-0-1, 3-0-0 OVC) improved to 6-0 at home on Sunday afternoon, blanking the Western Illinois Leathernecks by a score of 2-0. The Lions posted their fifth straight shutout victory, which is the most consecutive shutouts in a row in the NCAA era.
In the opening half, both defenses played well as Lindenwood allowed three total shots while recording six of their own on offense. The Leatherneck defense caused some trouble for the Lions, as all six shots were either blocked or off target.
Gavin Roberts got his second straight start in goal for the Lions, stopping the only shot on target that he faced in the first half, and would finish the game with three saves en route to his second straight cleansheet.
Similar to Thursday's game at Eastern Illinois, the Lions would seize control of the contest with two second half goals coming from
Sebastia Cerda Tous and
Gavin Csiszar. Five minutes into the second half,
Matteo Landais sent a cross pass towards the box off of a throw in from
Luke Neely. On the cross, the ball landed near
Luca Bartoni who found Cerda Tous on the back side of the Leatherneck defense for the first goal of the game to put the Lions in front 1-0. Later in the half,
Henrique Perestrelo would be taken down inside the box by a WIU defender, which gave the Lions a penalty kick opportunity in the 72nd minute.
Gavin Csiszar took the Lion's second penalty kick of the season, and cashed in on the opportunity as the Leatherneck goalkeeper went right, but Csiszar went middle to extend the lead to 2-0.
Lindenwood limited the Leathernecks to eight shots in the game, which is the third fewest shots allowed by the defense this season
. "We've worked really hard (on the defensive side of the ball). I'm very happy with the team's efforts and success is the byproduct of doing things the right way", said head coach
Kris Bertsch.
"It's constantly collective and there's buy in."
The Lions will remain at home for their next game, which is set for Thursday night at 7 p.m. against SIUE.
