Railsplitters Set Record with Win over Tusculum

HARROGATE, TN – On Wednesday afternoon, the Lincoln Memorial University men’s soccer team set a new record for wins in a season with a 3-2 victory over visiting Tusculum College.  The old record of 12 wins had been achieved on three different occasions during the 1992, 1998 and 2004 seasons. (Box score)

Wednesday’s victory over the Pioneers advanced the Railsplitters' record to 13-3-0, with a regular season finale still to come this Saturday at home against the Chargers of the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

The LMU men wasted little time getting the offense rolling on Wednesday.  Sophomore Frederico Moojen (Balneario, Camburiu, Brazil) found the back of the net only a minute twenty-one seconds into the match with help from teammate Leonardo de Barros (Brasilia, Brazil) and the Railsplitters were on top 1-0.

Despite several additional shots on goal in the early minutes of the contest, Tusculum denied the LMU men and put together an offensive attack of their own that tied the match at 1-1 when the Pioneers Jay Harris scored his second goal of the season with help from teammate Gerald Watt at the 9:18 mark.

With the game even following the Tusculum goal, the Pioneers quickly went on the offensive again and set the Railsplitters on their heels when Benyam Kefleyessus slammed one in via a Dave Bailey assist to put the Pioneers ahead 2-1.  Tusculum eventually took the 2-1 lead and the game’s momentum into the intermission.

As the second half got underway, LMU seemed to pick up the intensity of the offensive attack and held the Pioneers at bay by possessing the ball the majority of the time.  Finally, only 16 minutes into the second half, LMU’s Frederico Moojen scored his second goal of the match and his 22^nd goal of the season on teammate Diogo Silvy’s (Santa Catarina, Brazil) assist to tie the match at 2-2.

With Tusculum now in disarray, the Lincoln Memorial men took advantage of the confusion and quickly struck again only two minutes and 16 seconds later when sophomore Marcelo Galafassi (Jundiai, Brazil) scored on another Diogo Silvy assist for the go ahead 3-2 goal.  Although the Pioneers battled numerous times for another goal, the Railsplitter defense held and LMU came away with the 3-2 win.

Ranked #24 in the country by the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and having already clinched a spot in the upcoming Gulf South Conference Tournament to be held in Pensacola, Florida November 4-7, the Railsplitters will take this Saturday to pay tribute to seniors Marko Skuletic, and Marcel Simo on Senior Day at the Les Gibbs Field.  Saturday’s match with the Chargers is set for a 12:30 p.m. kick-off with the LMU women taking on the Lady Chargers in the afternoon game.

-LMU-  

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Head Coach:  Helio D'Anna
Phone:  (423) 869-6245