HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Railsplitters took the lead early and never took their foot off the gas in a 3-0 win over the Anderson Trojans in South Atlantic Conference men's soccer action on Saturday at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
Lincoln Memorial (9-5, 5-4 SAC) tallied in the fourth, 73rd and 83rd minutes to rebound from Wednesday's disappointing loss at Mars Hill and close out the LMU Soccer Complex with its first shutout win over Anderson (5-6-3, 1-6-3 SAC) since 2013. It was the Railsplitters' third clean slate of the season and first since September 24th's win over Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
Andres Pratto (Buenos Aires, Argentina) put the Railsplitters on the board just three minutes and 29 seconds in, as he received a through ball from Henrique Rezek (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil) and beat the keeper into the lower right-hand corner of the net for his second goal of the season.
 
That would be the extent of the damage offensively for Lincoln Memorial in the first half, as Anderson righted the ship and outshot the Railsplitters 5-4 through the first 45 minutes of action and built up multiple scoring chances. However, freshman goalkeeper August Ahlin (Stockholm, Sweden) made all three of his saves over that stretch to keep the Trojans off the board.
 
The score held at 1-0 until the Railsplitters tallied twice in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
 
Felipe de Sousa (Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) doubled Lincoln Memorial's lead at 72:21, using a pass from the left side by Danilo da Silva (Campinas, Brazil) to beat the keeper with a blast from the middle of the box. It was de Sousa's third goal of the 2016 campaign and da Silva's sixth assist.
 
A smidge over 10 minutes later, at 82:45, Victor Peres (Brasilia, Brazil) topped off the Railsplitters' victory with a beautifully-struck free kick from 25 yards out that curved into the upper left-hand corner of the net. With that, Peres extended his goal streak to four straight games and pushed his season total to six, tying da Silva and George Burne (Carlisle, England) for the team lead.
 
The Railsplitters outshot the Trojans 12-10 with a 6-3 edge in shots on goal. Peres and da Silva paced Lincoln Memorial with three shots apiece, while Burne and Pratto had two apiece.
 
Brad Du Plooy led the Trojans with three shot attempts, while Anderson goalkeeper Devon Ashy made two saves and allowed a trio of goals.
 
It marked LMU's fourth match of the season with at least three goals and its first since a 3-2 win at Newberry on October 10.
 
In coordination with the regular-season home finale, Lincoln Memorial also celebrated Senior Day by honoring its four seniors – Burne, Pedro Ozi (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Alexandre Leao (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil) and Bryson Lehn (Hendersonville, Tenn.) – during a pre-match ceremony.
 
The Railsplitters will close out the regular season with two straight road trips, beginning on Tuesday, October 25 with a jaunt over to Jefferson City, Tenn. to take on the Carson-Newman Eagles. That match is set to get underway at 7:30 p.m.