WINONA LAKE, Ind. - Grace College beat No. 5 Lindsey Wilson on Saturday night, and added another top 25 win to their resume.
The No. 10 ranked Lancers (5-2) beat the fifth ranked Blue Raiders 1-0 thanks to a second half goal from
Dan Allen. With the win Grace avenged a NAIA Opening Round loss to Lindsey Wilson a year ago, and now boast four victories of teams that were in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
Grace was facing a Lindsey Wilson (5-2) squad that was fresh off a 3-0 win over No. 1 Bethel, just three days ago. The Blue Raiders looked to carry that momentum into their top 10 showdown with the Lancers.
The first half was a defensive battle with neither squad able to find any credible offensive attack until the midpoint of the half.
In the 23rd minute, Lindsey Wilson had a free-kick from eight yards outside the penalty box, but the ensuing shot was headed clear of danger by
Antonio Lobo.
15 minutes later the Blue Raiders threatened again with a quick play following a Lancer foul, but
Matteo Conci easily tracked the shot to hold the game even 0-0 as the game entered the intermission.
The Blue Raiders held an impressive 8-2 shot advantage in the first half, but very few of their attempts threatened to score. Grace was whistled for seven fouls in the opening half, while Lindsey Wilson had nine.
In the second half, it was Grace who was the early aggressor.
Josh Cruz had a pair of early chances for the Lancers, but was unable to find the back of the net on either try.
Grace kept the pressure up and with 26 minutes left the Lancers nearly had the game's first goal.
Blake Burns beat his defender to the side of the net and tried to cross the ball back through the box, but the Blue Raider's goalie made a sprawling kick to clear the attempt and negate the chance.
With 14:30 left the deadlock was finally broken. Johnny Mora started the play by dribbling around a defender and sending the ball into the box.
Martim Sequeira was unable to corral the bouncing ball which made its way back to the top of the box. Waiting there was
Dan Allen who capitalized on his opportunity with a well placed shot to push the Lancers ahead 1-0.
Despite taking the 1-0 lead late in the contest, Grace did not let up. Sequeira and
Daniel Santos Rosa had consecutive chances to double Grace's lead but neither player was able to add the insurance marker.
Lindsey Wilson tried to muster a late attack but was unable to to draw even as Grace held on for 1-0 win.
Conci made three saves and picked up his fifth clean sheet win of the season. Cruz and Sequeira led Grace with two shots apiece.
Lindsey Wilson had 10 shots compared to Grace seven, both teams had three shots on goal. The Lancers had three corner kicks while the Blue Raiders did not have an attempt. Lindsey Wilson had 19 fouls in the game.
Â