On Friday, Sept. 6th, the Lindenwood men’s soccer team took on the Evansville Aces and won 3-2, giving the Lions their first victory of the season.

“They showed resilience and determination after how a lot of things have gone wrong for us at the start of the season, and in this game,” assistant coach Nat Hubert said. “I’m proud of the effort and just everything that’s been coming along.”

The game started out rough for Lindenwood, as the Lions started down 2-0. In the eighth minute, Jose Vivas scored unassisted for the Aces. In the 20th minute, the Aces struck again, with Nacho Diaz-Caneja scoring with an assist from Kai Phillip. However, Lindenwood’s defense would not allow a single goal for the rest of the game.

As for the offense, the Lions were able to have two made shots deflect off Aces defenders into the net, tying the game up on consecutive own goals by Evansville. The first Then with six minutes and eighteen seconds left, senior forward Ethan Blake on a penalty kick scored the game winning goal.

“It was pretty hectic,” senior winger John Gates said. “All three goals were kind of out of nothing, a lot of confusion, but every goal’s big especially now, and we were just glad to get the three points.”

According to Hubert, while the beginning of the season has been harsher for Lindenwood, the team has still been able to show major potential and talent, as well as talented players on the roster who will be coming back from injury. The Lions altogether are confident in accomplishing big things this year.

“We just have to take one game at a time,” Gates said. “We’ve been down a lot this season, so just coming together, looking at each one of us, just trying to dig in, and just got to keep fighting and that’s how we came back. It’s family first always.”

The Lions return home on Sunday, Sept. 8 to play Westminster College at Hunter Stadium. The game is slated to begin at 3 p.m.