ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Lincoln men's soccer team was just under two minutes away from earning a berth in the tournament championship match, but a late goal forced overtime and McKendree managed to score the gamewinner in the extra period to win, 2-1, in the GLVC Championship semifinals on Thursday (Nov. 13).

After a scoreless first half, Nkouka Loubassou took a pass from Rajae Lawrence and shot the ball over the heads of both a defender and the Bearcat goalkeeper, finding the upper right corner of the net for a 1-0 Blue Tiger lead. Lincoln (11-1-6) finished the night with a dominant 25-8 advantage on shots on goal, but held just an 8-5 edge on shots on goal.

The Blue Tiger lead seemed like it would hold until the end of regulation, but McKendree (10-4-5) scored an unassisted goal in the 89th minute to send the match into overtime. In the 97th minute of the contest, McKendree managed to move the ball past LU's defenders and into the goal, ending the match.

Joseph Lozano led LU with eight shots overall and three shots on goal while Christopher Hull and Santiago Brisco each finished with four total shots and one shot on the net. Makwe Nkoana had three shot attempts for Lincoln, including one on goal, while the other shot on goal was by Lawrence. Jorge Arevalo, Rajiv Gavin, Adam Griffiths and Junior Grizelle also had shot attempts for the Blue Tigers while Vincent Osei made three saves.

Thanks to going unbeaten during the regular season, Lincoln entered the week ranked No. 2 in the region and will still have an opportunity to be selected to play in the NCAA Division II tournament. The selection show revealing all of the participants in the 2025 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship will take place on Monday evening (Nov. 17).