ST.CHARLES, Mo.- The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team took all 110 minutes of the OVC Championship match to make school history on Saturday night inside of Hunter Stadium. The Lions defeated Houston Christian 4-2 in PK's to advance to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in program and school history. 

In the first half, Lindenwood outshot HCU 10-4 and put a lot of pressure on the Huskies defense in the first 45 minutes of play. Sebastia Cerda Tous and Alander Soares combined for six of the 10 shots, and both had really good looks at the net. The best chance of the half happened in the 36th minute which involved both Soares and Cerda Tous. Soares got around his defender from the left side of the box and sent a cross pass to the middle of the box where Cerda Tous was left wide open. Cerda Tous slipped right as he was about to shoot, but was still able to get enough of his foot on the ball to just barely miss wide left to keep the game tied at zero heading into the break. Lindenwood's defense continued to do what they have done all season long in the first half, limiting the Huskies to four shots and only one on goal. 

The Lions finally broke through early on in the second half in the 48th minute to grab the lead. OVC Forward of the Year Luca Bartoni scored his second goal of the OVC Tournament off a great pass from Alander Soares, who broke free on the left side of the field similar to the first half. Soares delivered a great pass to the middle of the box where Bartoni was streaking down the middle of the field where no defender could catch him, tapping the ball into the net to give the Lions a 1-0 lead with 42 minutes to go in the game.

With less than five minutes remaining in the second half, the Huskies put the pressure on the Lions and forced Gavin Roberts to make a few saves along the way. After Lindenwood tried to knock the ball out of bounds in their defensive zone in the 86th minute, HCU was able to maintain possession of the ball which led to an advantage for the Huskies. Houston Christian's Joby Reid sent a low shot towards the center of the goal where Gavin Roberts made a diving save, but a rebound was created off the diving effort giving All-OVC First Teamer Ryan Okerayi a great look at tying the game at one. The ball took a bounce off the rebound and Okerayi was unable to get a clean shot off as the Lions maintained their 1-0 lead with four minutes to go. However, two minutes later Okerayi sent a header towards the direction of Roberts, and Reid was able to knock it out of the hands of the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to tie the game at one with less than two minutes to go in regulation. 

The game would head to Overtime to decide the 2025 OVC Champion. The best chance for the Lions in either Overtime period came in the first Overtime with less than five minutes to go. Alander Soares was able to get a shot off from just outside of the box, but the HCU goalkeeper was able to make a save to keep the game tied at one. After 110 minutes of championship soccer, the game headed to PK's in which Lindenwood went 1-4 during the regular season.

The Lions flipped the script and scored on all four of their penalty kicks coming off the feet of George Chandler, Ethan Blake, Alander Soares, and Gavin Csiszar. After HCU missed their first PK, the Huskies made back-to-back shots to give Lindenwood the 4-2 advantage and leaving it up to Goalkeeper Quinn Closson, who was in goal for the shootout. Closson went up against Okeryai for the first time all season, and denied Okerayi on a diving save to his right to help the Lions clinch the OVC Tournament Championship and send Lindenwood to their first ever NCAA Division I tournament appearance in school history.

The Lions ended the game with 19 total shots and were led by Alander Soares, who had six shots with two of them being on target. Gavin Roberts recorded six saves in the game, as the defense would allow 14 shots total in the 110 minutes of regulation and overtime periods. 

"Such a wonderful group of guys that I'm working with right now." said head coach Kris Bertsch. "They bought into the belief and I'm so so thankful for my team, staff, and administration for how much they have done behind the scenes to allow our guys to succeed on and off the field."

The Lions will find out their opponent for the NCAA Tournament on Monday at 12 p.m. To watch the Men's Soccer selection show, visit NCAA.org for more information.