CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Railsplitters have been on a tear lately.
 
Their only problem has been closing out matches, but that wasn't the case Wednesday in a crucial South Atlantic Conference matchup at Queens.
 
The Lincoln Memorial University men's soccer team took the lead early and even though the Royals knotted it up in the second half, the Railsplitters tallied another score to secure a 2-1 victory.
 
Not only was the win huge for the SAC Tournament implications, pushing LMU into the No. 4 slot, but it gave the Railsplitters, who were ranked No. 8 in the NCAA Southeast Region poll released Wednesday before the match, a top-5 win over fellow ranked squad Queens, who came in at No. 5.
 
The Railsplitters came into the match without three of their starters. Felipe de Sousa, the team's leader in assists, and Edwin Vaas were sidelined after receiving red cards in the double-overtime, 1-1, draw versus Coker. LMU was also without key defender Andrea Cantoni, who left the last match early with what looked like a serious injury.
 
With all odds set to the side, the then-No. 5-seeded Railsplitters (8-3-3, 5-2-2 SAC) inserted other capable players — Rodrigo Aguiar, MJ Sheriff and Guilherme Soares — and they did the job perfectly versus the second-seeded Royals (9-4-1, 6-3).
 
Usual starter Victor Peres got the Railsplitters on the board first. Queens goalkeeper Sebastian Kalk swatted down a potential Matteo Bufalo goal, but Peres was there to clean up the miss to punch in his 11th score of the year.
 
It was a one-goal lead the Railsplitters carried into the half, and held until the Royals capitalized on a penalty kick from Omer Okyar in the 70th minute.
 
LMU didn't waste much time getting back on the board as Peres did so again in the 78th minute. The senior deposited his team and SAC-leading 12th goal via a penalty kick to give the Railsplitters a lead they'd hold onto for good.
 
The Railsplitter controlled the match shot-wise, taking 12 total, including seven on goal compared to the Royals' eight and just one on goal attempt.
 
Queens, however, had nine corner kicks to LMU's three, but the Railpsplitter defense and goalkeeper Caleb Cothrin were relentless to clear any and all tries of a comeback.