ROMEOVILLE, Ill. -- The Lewis University men's soccer team faced off against Missouri S&T on Friday (Oct. 11) in a match filled with grit and resolve as the Flyers defeated the Miners 1-0.

TEAM RECORDS
Lewis 4-1-6, 4-0-0 GLVC, Missouri S&T 6-3-2, 3-2-2 GLVC

LEWIS LEADERS
Shots: Cristian Perez (Cicero, Ill./Morton East) (5)
Shots on Goal: Godwin Asore (Kumasi, Ghana/Putnam Science Academy) (2), Arturs Gorodnickis (Riga, Latvia/Riga) (2), Mikey Revell (Largo, Maryland/Bishop McNamara) (2)
Goals: Gorodnickis (1)
Assists: Perez (1)

HALF BREAKDOWN
First Half: Lewis 0, Missouri S&T 0
Friday's match began with a fast and intensive midfield battle which should have acted as a sign for what the game would turn into. Lewis had a clear offensive advantage, which forced Missouri S&T to double and triple team the Flyers midfielders. The Miners would get the first shot off of the match with an early and wide attempt in the heart of the Flyers defense, this would be the only shot they would get off in the first half. 

The following 30 minutes was a display of Lewis' offensive capabilities with shots from and assortments of players and distances. Perez fired off a shot from just outside the goalie's box which went high left, only to be followed by Asore floating one up high right. During the midway point of the first half, the game began to show signs of getting physical with a multitude of foul calls and whistles. 

Lewis continued their offensive pressure during the final minutes of the first half and it began to look as if they would score a goal before break. More shots from Perez and Asore including a close play at the net which was blocked by the Missouri S&T keeper. Roman Hernandez (Aurora, Ill./Aurora East) got a shot off before halftime which was also saved and after much effort along the right side by Revell, he too was unable to score in the first half. 

Second Half: Lewis 1, Missouri S&T 0
After closing strong in the first half, many suspected Lewis would match or increase their offensive momentum in the second half, but it was the Miners who forced the Flyers to play defense. Coming out of the locker room, Missouri S&T began the second half occupying the Flyers' defensive zone. While unable to get a shot off, it was all hands on deck for the Lewis defense, and Lewis need to make a drastic change to the pace of the game.

After breaking out of the midfield, the Flyers began to string together passes to spread the Miners' defense out. at the 60 minute mark of the match. Gorodnickis began to move the ball towards the top of the goalie's box. Once he was around 20 yards out from the goal line, he lined a ground pass to Asore who was waiting at the last man of the defense, Gorodnickis continued to move forward towards a flat footed defense. Asore passed it back and to the right of Gorodnickis to Perez, who executed a short hand off pass back to Gorodnickis whose momentum caught the Miners' defense off guard. With the goalie to beat, Gorodnickis laced one past the Miners' keeper, giving Lewis an one goal lead. 

The Missouri S&T offense put up a good fight against Lewis but the Flyers did a good job of running the clock and not allowing shots to be fired in Sebastian Doppelhofer's (Liebmannweg, Austria/Kapfenberg) direction. Lewis only allowed two shots in the second half and neither of them were on goal. The Lewis defense came up big in the second half with rotations from Ayden Henegar (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) and Erik Alqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden/Hittarps IK Football Club). All said and done the Flyers walked away with another conference win and their third straight victory. 

Final Score: Lewis 1, Missouri S&T 0

UP NEXT
The Flyers stay home for a Sunday afternoon game against Drury at 2:30 PM CST at Lewis Stadium.