COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Lindenwood women's soccer team (10-4-5, 5-2-2 OVC) advanced to the OVC Tournament Final with a 2-1 win over No. 2 seed Little Rock in Cookeville on Thursday night (7-4-6, 5-0-4). Mackenzie Compton scored the game-winner in extra time to keep the Lions' season alive.

Match Overview
Little Rock took the lead in the contest's twelfth minute, with Amaya Arias getting her head on the end of a corner kick delivery by Kandice Kilderry to score the opening goal. Lindenwood outshot Little Rock 9-4 in the first half with three shots on goal but were unable to find an equalizer before halftime.

The Lions' fortunes would change just 40 seconds into the second half, as a fantastic ball over the top from Kylee Peel found the right foot of Anna Johnson at the near post, who buried a shot into the back of the net to even the score.

The Trojans looked to regain the lead in the 62nd minute with OVC Forward of the Year Maria Schuller getting free behind the LU backline for a one-on-one opportunity. However, Caroline Ritter stood her ground and turned away the chance with her right foot for perhaps the biggest save of the season.

The contest took another turn in the 79th minutes when Little Rock's Arias picked up her second yellow card and was sent off, forcing the Trojans to play with 10 for the remainder of the match. However, the Lions were only able to get one shot off in the remaining 10 minutes of regulation, and the match headed to overtime.

The deciding score came just under three minutes into the extra time, as Mackenzie Compton split two Little Rock defenders to control a long pass out of the back before splitting the posts with a powerful strike off the right foot for the golden goal.

Lindenwood outshot Little Rock 18-12 in the match with an 8-6 advantage in tries on target. Compton led the Lions with six total shots and three shots on goal in the contest.

The win extends LU's unbeaten streak to seven matches and advances them to the OVC Tournament Final for the second consecutive season.

Quotable
"Our group came together tonight and our culture persevered. Now we will regroup and prepare for Championship Sunday." - Dave Musso

Next Up
Lindenwood will face Tennessee Tech for the OVC Tournament title on Sunday with kickoff set for 4:00 p.m. CT.