Game #21
Lindenwood (14-2-4, 6-2-2 OVC)
at. Kansas City (11-3-5, 4-1-1 Summit League)
Match Information:
Date: Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
Location: Kansas City, Mo.
Venue: Durwood Soccer Stadium.
First Kick: 6:00 p.m. CT.
All-Time Series: 0-1-0.
Last Meeting: L, 1-2.
Live Stats: Lindenwood @ Kansas City
Watch: ESPN+
Buy: Tickets

Last Time Out
Lindenwood Men's Soccer became the first program in school history to advance to the NCAA Division I National Tournament with their thrilling penalty kick shootout win over Houston Christian last Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship game. George Chandler, Ethan Blake, Alander Soares, and Gavin Csiszar all converted on their PK attempts, and Quinn Closson made the biggest save of the season during the shootout for the Lions to help them win their first Postseason Conference Championship at the Division I level.

Luca Bartoni got the scoring started in the 48^th minute of the championship game, receiving a great pass from Alander Soares to give the Lions a 1-0 lead early in the second half. HCU eventually responded in the 88^th minute to tie the game at one, which led to the Lions playing in their first Overtime game of the season. Gavin Roberts made six saves in the OVC Championship game, while Soares recorded six shots with two of them being on goal. Bartoni was named the OVC Tournament MVP, scoring two goals in two games for Lindenwood. Leandro Haesler, Luke Neely, and Soares were also named to the 2025 OVC All-Tournament team as well.
The Lions found out on Monday that they would be traveling to Kansas City to take on the Kansas City Roos in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Kick off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Thursday night.

Scouting The Roos
Kansas City enters the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 11-3-5 and is coming off a loss in the Summit League Championship to Denver. Prior to the championship game, the Roos were unbeaten in their previous eight games, going 7-0-1 during that stretch of their season.

Kansas City is led by Junior Forward Jeremy Francou, who has 11 goals scored to go along with three assists on the 2025 season. Francou leads the Roos in several offensive categories, including points (25), shots (46), and shots on goal (21). UMKC had seven players make the 2025 All-Summit League Teams, which was the same number of players that the Lions had on the 2025 All-OVC teams. The Lions and Roos also went unbeaten at home in the regular season, as Lindenwood went 9-0-3 at Hunter Stadium while Kansas City finished the regular season 6-0-3 at home, marking their most wins at home since the 2012 season.

Lindenwood and Kansas City have met one time prior to Thursday's match when the Lions were in their first year of the transition period and a member of the Summit League, with the Roos defeating the Lions 2-1 in Kansas City on September 24, 2022.
 
Stats to Know

• Luca Bartoni is now tied for the team lead in points with 19 after scoring a goal in both games in the OVC Tournament.
• LU has won the most games in a single season (14) since 2013 when they won 18 games as members of the MIAA at the Division II level. The 2025 season marks the first time since 2013 that the Lions have won an outright regular season championship after winning back-to-back regular season titles in 2012 and 2013.
• The Lions rank second in all of the NCAA with 12 total shutouts, trailing only Princeton and NC State who each have 13 shutouts on the season. Their 12 shutouts is the most by any OVC team in the history of the league.
• Lindenwood ranks tied for fourth in the NCAA in goal differential with a +32. LU is averaging 2.10 goals per game while allowing 0.50 goals per game in 2025.

 
Up Next
The winner between Lindenwood and UMKC will advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and will play the no.12 seed Stanford on Sunday, November 23 at 7 p.m CT in Stanford, California.