YOUNG HARRIS, GA. – They fought back at the end and made things interesting, but the Lincoln Memorial men's soccer team dropped a close 3-2 game to the #20 ranked Young Harris Mountain Lions.
 
The match did not start out well, as the Mountain Lions found the back of the net twice within the first 20 minutes. The Railsplitter defense buckled down the rest of the half and stopped seven shots, with German goalkeeper Robin Hermann saving two of those.
 
"I feel like this was the first time this season where we put ourselves into an early hole and we had to regroup to dig ourselves out," remarked head coach Robert Spain.
 
The second half didn't get off to a good start either, as Young Harris brought the lead up to 3-0 within the first 10 minutes of the half. After that though, LMU started their comeback. The defense got it going with multiple stops, as the junior Hermann picked up four more saves in the net. The offense finally found their rhythm in the seventy-ninth minute.
 
A Young Harris defender was given a yellow card leading to a free kick for LMU's Pedro da Silva, who curled it past the goalkeeper and put it into the back of the net. That goal started the momentum in LMU's favor as the Railsplitters again beat the defense to score once more. Sophomore Will Arrowood scored on a put-back right in front of the net, with Lars Popp gaining an assist after putting a shot off the crossbar to cut the Mountain Lion lead down to one.
 
That was a close as the Railsplitters would get as time would expire before LMU could get another shot on goal. Lincoln Memorial took seven shots in the second half, putting four on goal, but were not able to draw closer than one goal.
 
"I'm extremely proud of the reaction from our guys, and although I know the result stings, they will take a lot from this experience to fight back the way they did," Spain said. "This game will help us tremendously going forward into the season."
 
Up Next
The Railsplitters come back home on Saturday, September 11^th to face off against tenth ranked Union of Tennessee, and they open SAC play the following Wednesday, as they welcome in the Pioneers of Tusculum.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter soccer.