The Lindenwood Men's Soccer team (3-2-3, 0-0-0 OVC) earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw on Sunday evening at Seattle to conclude their non-conference portion of the schedule. Both squads recorded just one shot in the first half with neither Goalkeeper recording a save.
The Lions had three corner kicks in the first 45 minutes of play with two of them coming within the first 10 minutes of the first half, but LU could not come up with the first goal of the game early on.
Javaun Mills took the only shot of the half for Lindenwood in the 21st minute and tried to sneak the ball past the goalkeeper from just inside of midfield, but the shot went right of the goalpost and the game remained scoreless. With less than five minutes to play in the opening frame, Seattle sent a cross pass into the box that found the head of the Redhawks' Takashi Sasaki who was able to get a shot off, but the ball went wide left of the goal as the first half came to a close with no score.
Early on in the second half, Seattle struck first and grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute off a header from a corner kick to register their first shot on goal of the game. The Redhawks would record the next two shots of the game in the 49th and 58th minutes, but both shots were off target as the deficit remained at one for the Lions.
Phillip Viberg Rasmussen took the first shot on goal for the Lions in the 62nd minute on a shot from beyond the box, but the Seattle Goalkeeper was able to gather the shot attempt and keep Lindenwood off the scoreboard. Five minutes later, the Lions were awarded a free kick and off the free kick the ball landed at the feet of
Clement Baron. Baron fired a turn around shot on net from inside the box, but the shot was also turned away by Seattle.
LU kept putting pressure on the Seattle defense for the remainder of the half, recording 10 total shots in the last 45 minutes of play, and eventually scored the equalizing goal in the 81st minute to earn the 1-1 draw.
Thato Lekgetho gathered the ball from just outside of the box, created enough space to get a shot off, and sent the shot right at a Seattle defender. The defender tried to redirect the shot wide of the goal, but instead used his head to redirect the ball into the back left corner of the net to even the score at one with less than 10 minutes to play.
Luca Bartoni, Lekgetho, and
Omar Sanderson would each record another shot attempt over the final nine minutes of the second half, but none of the shots were on target as the game would result in a tie.
Defensively, Lindenwood limited Seattle to eight total shots with only two of them being on goal, one of which was saved by
Quinn Closson. Offensively,
Javaun Mills, Lekgetho, and Viberg Rasmussen each took two shots to lead the Lions in that category.
"I thought we competed well versus an opponent who is very strong at home." said Head Coach
Kris Bertsch.
"It was a very competitive first half with not a lot of chances for either program. It was a lot more wide open in the second half and we had to respond from conceding at the start of the second half. We created a lot of attacking opportunities as the half went on and I'm happy for how we responded to not only tie the game, but potentially win the game."
Lindenwood will now open up Ohio Valley Conference play next Saturday night in Texas as they will travel to UTRGV. Kickoff from Edinburg, TX is set for 6:30 PM on ESPN+.
