The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team shut out Chicago State for the second straight year, defeating the Cougars by a final score of 3-0 in the season opener on Thursday night. The Lions were able to record 18 shots, including 11 on target to begin their 2026 campaign.
Luca Bartoni picked up right where he left off last season, scoring two second half goals to put the game out of reach.
After no shots were recorded in the first 18 minutes of the game, the Lions finally settled in offensively and took five shots over the course of three minutes to put pressure on the Cougar defense. Lindenwood struck first a few minutes later in the 27th minute after
Luke Neely was able to gather the ball off a Cougar turnover in their defensive zone. Neely found
Philip Viberg Rasmussen in open space, who would send a shot to the lower right corner of the net for the first goal of the 2026 season for the Black and Gold. LU stood tall for the remainder of the half and didn't allow a single shot in the opening 45 minutes of play and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, the Lions continued to push the pace offensively, recording the first six shots of the second half. On the sixth shot of the half, Bartoni was able to add onto the lead after
Gabriel Tonks sent a shot from the right side of the box that created a rebound opportunity. Chicago State's goalkeeper was able to deny Tonk's on target attempt, but Bartoni was in the right place at the right time and buried the rebound to put the Lions up 2-0 in the 62nd minute. Bartoni's second goal of the half would come with less than three minutes to play, putting Lindenwood in front for good by a score of 3-0 thanks to great passes from Viberg Rassmussen and
Ryan Holmes.
For the contest, Lindenwood allowed just two shots all game with only one being on target that was handled by
Quinn Closson in the 67th minute. Offensively, five different players picked up a point tonight with Viberg Rassmussen and Bartoni each collecting multiple points in the season opener.
"I think over the course of 90 minutes it was a professional performance." said Head Coach
Kris Bertsch.
"Obviously there are a lot of areas on both sides of the ball that we got to improve upon, but the 3-0 result means we scored some goals and were able to get the shut out."
The Lions will now hit the road on Monday afternoon where they will take on IU Indy at 2 p.m. CT.
