Syracuse, N.Y. – In their first home contest of the 2023 campaign, the Le Moyne men's soccer team fell to the visiting Lindenwood University Lions by a score of 2-1.

After a Lindenwood free kick attempt was knocked away to the left sideline in the 35^th minute, the Lions quickly played the ball back into the penalty area, and following a collision inside the six-yard box, freshman forward Nathan Baker pounced on the loose ball and knocked it into the right side of the net to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Lions doubled their lead in the 75^th minute when junior defenseman Jermaine Mentoor put away a rebound opportunity following a point-blank kick save from Le Moyne sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Gera (Jamesville, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt).

The 'Phins got back into the game with a penalty kick goal in the 88^th minute. Freshman forward Felix Ludemann (Wrestedt, Germany/Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium Uelzen) drew the foul after beating two Lindenwood players on a long run into the left side of the 18-yard box, then redshirt-junior defender Jack Goodrich (Kelsall, England/King's School Chester) placed the penalty kick past the diving goalkeeper and into the bottom right corner of the goal.

The Lions prevented the Dolphins from putting a shot on goal during the final 2:23 to come away with the non-conference victory.

"I came away from today's match fairly frustrated given the poor two goals we gave up. Both came from second-phase set pieces and we have to deal with them better," said Le Moyne head coach Callum Donnelly '17, M '21 following the team's first home match of the season. "I felt we had some good moments today but I still feel we can be more threatening in the final third. We are obviously missing some key players at the moment, but we still have enough quality to hurt the opponents. Lindenwood was a tough team, and took their moments to punish us. We are excited for Tuesday's match. It is a quick turnaround, but it is a match against a very good Delaware team that will set us up nicely for conference play," Donnelly added.

The Dolphins outshot the visitors 8-5, with four shots in each half. Le Moyne also produced nine corner kicks during the match – all of which came during the final 45 minutes – compared to three for the Lions.

The Le Moyne men's soccer team will play their next game on Tuesday at the University of Delaware, then they will make their Northeast Conference debut on Sunday, September 24 against former Northeast-10 Conference foe Stonehill College.

Match Highlights:
With 33 minutes remaining in the first half, Goodrich made a move towards the endline on the left wing, then crossed the ball in the air towards the edge of the Lindenwood six-yard box. Le Moyne sophomore winger Cameron Stuart (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) rose high in the air and thumped a header straight down towards goal. A Lindenwood defender was positioned on the goal line next to his keeper and headed the bouncing shot away from goal towards the top of the 18-yard box. Redshirt-sophomore midfielder Ziad Abdul-Malak (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) controlled the ball and took a left-footed shot from outside the box that sailed above the cross bar and out of bounds for a goal kick.

With just over eight minutes remaining in the first half, Le Moyne received a throw in on the right sideline within their attacking third. Redshirt-junior forward Noah Sperduto (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira) brought down the throw in with a defender on his back just inside the Lindenwood 18-yard box. Sperduto turned left, split two defenders towards the goal line and ripped a right-footed shot on the ground that was blocked by the diving Lindenwood goalkeeper, freshman Enzo Gil.

The Dolphins earned four corner kicks within the first 13 minutes of the second half.

In the 59^th minute, Stuart intercepted a pass near the right corner flag, dribbled past a Lindenwood defender into the right side of the box, evaded a sliding challenge, then took a left-footed shot that flew wide left of the goal frame.

With 5:30 left in the second half, Stuart got the ball on the right wing and made a quick move towards the center of Le Moyne's attacking third. He sent a pass to graduate midfielder Luca Nicastro (Ottawa, Ontario/Nepean/St. Bonaventure) who set the ball up on his right foot, then cut to his left to create space from an oncoming defender. Nicastro hit a left-footed shot from outside the 18-yard box that flew over the upper left corner of the goal frame and out of bounds for a goal kick.

Le Moyne took back-to-back corner kicks in the 87^th minute, but the Lindenwood defense headed the ball away from danger both times.

With just over 2:30 left in the game, Gera sent a long pass across the field for Ludemann on the left wing. The rookie from Wrestedt poked the ball through a defender's legs into space, then sped past another Lion towards the left side of the penalty area, and took a touch past a third defender before being brought down inside the box to earn the 'Phins their first penalty kick of the 2023 season.

Goodrich smashed a left footed shot from the spot into the bottom right corner of the net to record his first goal of the campaign.

The Dolphins (0-4-1) will take on the Delaware Blue Hens (5-1-1), a member of the CAA, on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.