Lynx rally fall short, lose in NAIA semifinal
The Lindenwood University–Belleville Lynx’ historic soccer run came to a close Friday night, as they fell 4-2 to No. 10 MidAmerica Nazarene (18-5-1).
The first team from LU–Belleville to ever advance to the final site in the national tournament, they continued to awe and impress, winning six straight games in the postseason to reach heights unseen by any Lynx team.
Once again, the Lynx (17-8) were subject to playing on a less than ideal playing surface, as rain continued to fall in Delray Beach, dumping more two inches of rain in a 24 hour period, leaving the field in an incredible muddy state.
In the first half, the Lynx offense came out firing, having three scoring opportunities in the first 12 minutes, none of which were successful. The first goal of the game came in the 17th minute as Matias Cabello beat Nicolas Nicolaci to take a 1-0 lead.
The Lynx came right back with three more shots, but two ran wide and an Oriol Morego attempt was saved by the Pioneer keeper. With 11 minutes remaining in the first half, the Pioneers scored two goals in just over a minute’s time, pushing the score to 3-0. The three goals tied the most the Lynx had given up in a first half all season and they had not faced a three goal deficit since 2013.
Down at the half for the first time in the NAIA tournament, the Lynx showed resilience in the second stanza. Enrique Garcia notched his seventh goal of the season and first of the NAIA tournament on a pass from Guillermo Chinchilla, giving the Lynx life.
Just three minutes later, Morego continued his incredible postseason run, scoring his fifth goal of the NAIA tournament and cutting the deficit to 3-2. Chinchilla was credited with his second assist of the game as they Lynx were down just one with 35 minutes remaining.
The game turned in the 63rd minute when the Pioneers tacked on their fourth goal of the game, increasing the lead back to two goals, taking a 4-2 lead. The Lynx had two more scoring chances, but neither Jose Silva’s nor Joe Kapp’s shot connected.
The semifinal match ended 4-2 and the Lynx historic run came to a close. They became the first team from LU–Belleville to advance to the final site in the NAIA tournament and then advanced to the semifinals, winning three straight games.
Since 2014, the Lynx now own an 8-1-1 record in the post-season.
This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Lynx rally fall short, lose in NAIA semifinal."