Photo by Brendan Burns

Ethan Blake takes a penalty shot against Western Illinois University.

On an afternoon when Lindenwood’s men’s soccer team honored its seven seniors, the Lions cruised to a 7-0 victory over Southern Indiana University, claiming the three seed in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference tournament and achieving 10 wins in a season for the first time since 2017. 

The win was their sixth conference win of the year, their most since 2021. The Lions scored seven goals on the afternoon the most in a game this season. The Lions ended the regular season with 37 total team goals, the most by a Lions team since 2018. Six different Lions scored goals in the match. 

Jermaine Mentoor got the scoring barrage started in the 5th minute when he found the back of the net after he found himself with the ball right in front of the net off a corner kick that got deflected by a Southern Indiana player. The goal was Mentoor’s third goal this season, as the senior is one of nine Lions on the roster to have multiple goals this season.  Noe Bijou also scored his third goal of the season as in the 35th minute, he hammered away a shot into the back of the net off a pass from fellow senior Henrique Perestrelo.  Lindenwood had seven of their 21 shots in the first half and went into the break with a 2-0 lead. 

Lindenwood came out of the halftime break on fire, as John Gates got the team going with his fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick after he was fouled in the box in the 49th minute.  Mekhi Wright got his first goal of the season in the 63rd minute, off a pass from Anis Smajlovic and Jens Haukeland, who eventually found Wright who did his part by finding the back of the net. 

Smajlovic would score his own goal just a little over a minute later off a pass from Ethan Blake. Blake had a chance to score a goal of his own, but failed to convert on a penalty kick opportunity making him now 3/4 on penalty kicks this season.  Haukeland would also score a goal on the afternoon in the 77th minute off a beautiful pass from Jozef Palushaj.  Smajlovic would cap off the end to the regular season for the Lions, as in the 89th minute he found the back of the net for his second goal of the game off passes from Luke Neely and Palushaj.  This was the third time the Lions have scored five or more goals in a game this season, all coming at home in Hunter Stadium. 

Lindenwood draws the number three seed in the OVC tournament and will play the number six seed Western Illinois Leathernecks on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. in Edwardsville, Illinois.  The Lions will look to run the gauntlet and come away with their first-ever OVC tournament title.