Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist fell behind early and couldn't bounce back against Lindenwood-Belleville in a 4-2 loss Wednesday afternoon.
The loss dropped the Spartans (7-7-3, 4-6) to eighth place in the conference. Lindenwood-Belleville (9-6, 8-2) picked up its fourth straight victory with the win.
Belleville jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Sebastian Durand scored in the 15th minute. He took a pass from Alan Uechi, cut inside and fired it into the net. The Spartans had just two first-half shots, but nearly netted the game's first goal in the 9th minute. Great ball movement found the ball in front of the net for Selmir Ademovic. The senior's shot just missed to keep the game in a scoreless tie.
Once MBU went down, they couldn't quite recover. Yan Rodrigues put Belleville ahead 2-0 with a goal in the 25th minute and played a part in the team's final goal of the half later on. Rodrigues sent a ball into the box in the 40th minute. His teammate Callum Walker then cleaned things up by tipping it into the net.
Despite a 3-0 deficit at the half, MBU fought hard after halftime to outscore the Lynx 2-1. The Spartans also outshot Lindenwood-Belleville 6-4 in the final 45 minutes. Ben Randolph headed in a free kick from Connar Armstrong in the 54th minute to put MBU on the board.
The Spartans would tally another goal, but not after the Lynx tacked on another from Andres Garza Rodriguez in the 72nd minute to put the away team ahead 4-1. The 84th minute saw the Spartans head in another free kick, this time the connection was Thales Teixeira to Eduardo Mendes-Maia for the goal.
It was both Randolph's and Mendes-Maia's first goal of the season. The Spartans final regular season game is on Saturday against Central Baptist for Senior Day. The match is set for 2:30 pm.
