Lindenwood made the most of the only truly great goal scoring opportunity of the day, a penalty kick in the 62nd minute, and defeated the Peacocks, 1-0. The Lions are the only team to shutout UIU since Head Coach Jason Carlson took over the Peacocks men's soccer program. Last season Lindenwood and Upper Iowa battled to a 0-0 tie in Fayette. The tie was one of only two non-wins for the Lions in 2013 as Lindenwood went 16-0-2 in the regular season.

"Credit to Lindenwood, they were really working hard and scrambling for every ball defensively, which made it difficult for us," said Carlson. "It's disappointing because I thought we played really well at times today."

In a physical game that saw nearly 30 fouls and 6 yellow cards, neither team create many scoring chances. 

The best chances for Upper Iowa came early in the first half, when the Peacocks had a lot of success attacking down the right side of the field. Unfortunately for UIU, they couldn't break through the Lion defense. 

On the other hand, Lindenwood controlled the ball for a majority of the first half, but couldn't put one in the net. Several crosses were won out of the air by goalkeeper Connor Rortvedt, but he wasn't required to make a save in the first half.

Due to the physical nature of the game, the Peacocks went to their bench in the first half and saw a lot of positive play from freshman midfielder Logan Dahnert and junior forward Jared Newman. 

"It was great to see those guys coming off the bench," said Carlson. "Logan has really been making an impact in training and that's what gave us the confidence that he was going to do something. You can see what his speed does and his tenacity on the field, but he's young and he still has some things to learn. He's got some intangibles there to work with though."

Neither team could muster a goal in the first half and the game went into the break at 0-0.

The Peacocks started the second half similarly to the first half, with plent of through balls and working the ball up the field quickly. Newman nearly broke the game open ten minutes into the half when he ran onto a ball and shot around the charging Lions goalkeeper, but the ball went just wide of the near post.

Lindenwood got their best chance when they were awarded a penalty kick at 61:47 in the game. Senior midfielder Lukas Martinen took the shot for the Lions and calmly put the ball to his right as Rortvedt dove left. The Lions took the lead 1-0.

The Peacocks came back with a flurry of attacks, nearly tying the game on a Leandro Pena shot in the 80th minute. Pena received the ball just outside the box, took a few touches and sent a high, driving shot to the far post and the Lion goalkeeper made a rising save to come down with the ball. 

Upper Iowa scrambled for a few more shots but didn't have any truly dangerous attacks. UIU outshot Lindenwood 12-9 and put five shots on goal compared to one for the Lions. Pena led the Peacocks with three shots, putting two on goal, while Newman took two shots, but missed the net on both.

"Hopefully what we take from this game is the seriousness we need to have in the final third," said Carlson. "We need to make those opportunities into really good chances and take some risks. Sometimes that means taking a shot that you don't feel comfortable with, but, hey, it's an opportunity. Last time we played SNU, we got into the final third and had a ton of chances, but couldn't put them away. We've got to recover from this and get ready to go for Saturday."

UIU will take on Southern Nazarene on Saturday in Fayette. The game will be played at Pattison Field and will kick off at Noon.