CALEB RIORDAN | Reporter
The Lions defended their home field, beating Southwest Baptist University 3-1 on Sunday afternoon.
The Bearcats traveled to Hunter Stadium on Sunday seeking their first win of the season, with their record sitting at 0-8-1. They were held scoreless in the first half and only managed to get off one shot.
The Lions put two goals on the board in the first half. The first came by way of a through ball from junior Sami Gregory to the sprinting sophomore Morgan Weller, who launched a shot that hit the back of the net for her team-leading fourth goal of the season. Weller was doing her best at penetrating and being aggressive throughout the game. Later in the half she had a run down the left side that led to a cross right in front of the Southwest Baptist net, but it couldn’t be finished by the Lions.
“Today I feel like there were just a lot of gaps on the outside, so I was able to take advantage of that,” Weller said. “Sometimes it’s really easy to just take the line if they give you space and they’re kind of backing up. So it’s easy for me just to attack that way and look for people in the box.”
The second goal of the half for the Lions came off a rebound from a shot by sophomore Sam Linderer. The shot flew off the crossbar where freshman Maggie Miller was there to put it away for her first goal of the season. The Lions outshot the Bearcats 5-1 in the half.
In the second half, both teams’ crowds started to come alive, and both sides were growing irritated with the officials. A coach for Southwest Baptist was issued a red card for screaming repeatedly at the referee “You’re pathetic!”
However, the Bearcats were able to get on the board in the second half by way of a 25 yard blast from sophomore Raegan Edwards from the left side. That was later matched by Lindenwood’s Jordan Wipke when she found the net on a penalty shot.
The Bearcats outshot the Lions in the second half 9-8, but the Lions were able to pull off the 3-1 victory to keep Southwest Baptist winless. Sophomore Lauren Greenstein picks up the win in net, making four saves and bringing her record to 3-1-0.
Next for the Lions, they travel to the University of Central Oklahoma to take on the Bronchos on Friday, Oct. 5.
