The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team (8-3-6, 5-1-3 OVC) picked up a key three points on Thursday night in a 2-0 win over Houston Christian (5-7-5, 3-3-3 OVC) on Thursday night.
Chances were hard to come by in the opening half with only five shots combined from both teams through the first 30 minutes. Lindenwood had the only shot on goal during that time, coming off the foot of Thato Lekgetho. However, HCU had the best scoring chance in the opening half, but Quinn Closson tipped a Huskies header over the bar with seven minutes to go, keeping the game scoreless at the break.
The game continued to be deadlocked at zero until the 68th minute when the Lions earned a free kick and made the most of it. David Magalhaes found the foot of Luke Neely who made a near post run and flicked it past the HCU keeper to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead with 22 minutes to go in the contest. It didn't take long for Lindenwood to double its lead as one minute later, Lekgetho made his way past a defender and found the bottom right corner, making the score 2-0. Leland Gray also picked up an assist on the score.
Lindenwood maintained the 2-0 lead across the final 20 minutes of the game with some solid defending in the final third that preserved the shutout and secured three points on Thursday night. With the win, Lindenwood secures a top two seed in the OVC Tournament with one more OVC match remaining.
"Excellent performance tonight from everyone." said Head Coach Kris Bertsch. "I'm happy for our guys to earn the win versus a quality HCU side while also winning our pod. We'll regroup for another tough match vs UIW on Sunday."
The Lions will conclude the regular season in a matchup with Incarnate Word on Sunday in San Antonio, Texas. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. on ESPN+
