HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Railsplitters tallied three second-half goals to rally for a convincing 3-1 win over the Southern Wesleyan Warriors in the LMU Soccer Complex opener on Wednesday.
Lincoln Memorial (2-1) fell behind midway through the first half and continued to trail more than 50 minutes in, but scored a trifecta of goals over a 26-minute stretch in the second half to hand Southern Wesleyan (2-1) its first loss as full-time members of the NCAA Division II.
Michel Herszenhaut tallied the first goal of the match and gave the Warriors a 1-0 advantage in the 24th minute, as he received a pass at the top corner of the box from Sam Rowden and drove a left-footed shot into the left-hand corner of the net. That score would hold up through 45 minutes of action, even though the Railsplitters finished with a 10-7 edge in shot attempts.
Lincoln Memorial's direct style of attack came up empty at every turn until the Railsplitters finally broke open the floodgates in the 54th minute, as
Felipe de Sousa (Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) squeaked a pass through the SWU defense to put
Philip Wong (Hong Kong, China) on a breakaway. Wong capitalized on that open-field opportunity, beating the Warriors' keeper to his left to even the score at 1-1.
The game would remain tied for most of the next 20 minutes until
Henrique Rezek (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil) netted a brilliant goal in the 73rd minute. Another long ball put
George Burne (Carlisle, England) in the box, where he ripped a cross back into the middle. The cross deflected off a Warriors defender and up in the air, and Rezek won the battle for the ball, flicking it over the head of the SWU keeper to break the 1-1 stalemate and notch his first goal of the season.
Six minutes later,
Danilo da Silva (Campinas, Brazil) drove a stake into the Warriors' hearts with his first goal of the season. After receiving a pass from near midfield, da Silva beat a couple of defenders and launched a well-struck shot from nearly 35 yards out that found the back of the net and made it a 3-1 score.
The Railsplitters finished with a 17-11 edge in shot attempts with a 7-5 advantage in shots on goals. Southern Wesleyan attempted six corner kicks, while Lincoln Memorial only finished with three corner kick tries.
Victor Peres (Brasilia, Brazil) was held scoreless, but led all players with four shots, while da Silva and Wong had three shot attempts apiece. Ivan Malagon paced the Warriors with three shots.
August Ahlin (Stockholm, Sweden) picked up his second win of the season in goal for the Railsplitters, making four saves over 90 minutes of action. Southern Wesleyan's Miguel Uribe allowed three goals and made four saves to fall to 2-1 on the season.
With the win, the Railsplitters improve to 2-0 all-time against Southern Wesleyan, as Wednesday marked the first meeting between the two programs since the 1996 campaign.
Lincoln Memorial hits the road on Saturday to face the Young Harris Mountain Lions at 3 p.m. in Young Harris, Ga. Live stats and video links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.
