ST. CHARLES, MO – Lindenwood senior Cam Smith entered the locker room knowing the offense could perform better.
The Lions had squandered man-advantage opportunities, took low-percentage shots from the perimeter and entered halftime tied with Queens University-Charlotte on Wednesday.
“The offense started off slow, and we weren’t running what we talked about,” Smith said.
Defender Evan Janiec felt more needed to be given on the defensive end, too.
“We lacked a little bit of communication and got a little lazy, but at halftime, we decided to tighten up and take control of the game,” Janiec said.
Smith scored four goals and Janiec led a defensive effort that held the Royals to one goal in the second half as Lindenwood defeated Queens 15-6 in an Atlantic Sun conference matchup at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium.
Lindenwood (2-4, 1-2), which also received a hat trick from sophomore Ryan Kemp, won in its first home game as a Division 1 team and won its first ASUN conference game in program history.
“I’ve been here since my freshman year and never really thought I was going to play D-1, so it feels pretty good to get our first D-1 win here in St. Charles.” Smith said.
Trailing by a goal late in the first half, Smith dodged a defender, switched to his left hand and fired a bouncing shot that tied the score 5-5 at halftime.
The Smith goal foreshadowed a change in attack by Lindenwood, where the Lions looked to attack one-on-one matchups rather than firing shots from the perimeter.
“We call it ‘Zero,’” Smith said. “We want to isolate the guy and move off ball. It’s what we talked about all week and we finally did it in the second half.”
On a man advantage, Smith ripped a shot past Queens goalie Gage Turner from 15 yards away to give Lindenwood the lead. He repeated the feat from almost the same spot 42 seconds later to give the Lions a 7-5 advantage.
“I was pretty excited. To start off slow and then put three away, it felt pretty good,” Smith said.
Smith’s flurry opened the floodgates, as Wesley Scurci, Noah Wehrman and JP Morris scored on one-on-one moves in the final 3:30 of the third quarter to open a 10-5 advantage.
While the offense found its rhythm in ‘zero,’ the defense continued to put up zeroes. Senior goalie Blake Nolan made 13 saves, including the denial of seven of eight Royals’ shot attempts in the second half.
“As a defense, we had to take care of business on our end to get the offense the ball,” Nolan said. “I’m proud of how the offense answered the call at halftime.”
Nolan made a huge stop to close out the first half after Queens held the ball for the final shot. Then, he made a stellar save at the tail end of the 80-second shot clock to begin the third quarter.
“I just had to set my feet, look at the ball and watch it into my stick,” said Nolan, who has made at least 12 saves in each of his five starts.
Lindenwood continued to execute its offensive game plan throughout the fourth quarter, at one point scoring 10 unanswered goals before Queens sophomore Jack Royer bounced a shot under the crossbar with less than five minutes remaining.
Nolan received a scare early in the first quarter when Queens senior Bennet Smith collided with him in the goal crease. It left Nolan on the ground for several minutes and put Smith in the box for a 3-minute, non-releasable penalty.
“I got nailed pretty hard in the net, but we got a non-releasable penalty out of it and that was big for momentum,” Nolan said.
Lindenwood sophomore Shane Egan scored the Lions’ first goal soon after the penalty expired. Kemp scored his first after a brilliant 50-yard run and dish by freshman Nathan Ruff with two seconds remaining in the quarter to give Lindenwood a 2-0 lead.
But Queens answered by scoring three times in 41 seconds. Then, after Lindenwood appeared to reverse the momentum with goals from Sam Schaffer and Noah Berger, the Royals scored twice in 1:14 to take a 5-4 lead.
“It was a team-first mentality,” Janiec said. “We gave them a couple (goals), they got on a hot streak, and it was time to tighten up, be technically sound, come together and defend.”
And a tightened defense coupled with a halftime reset on offense put Lindenwood on a history-making path the rest of the game.
“It’s very special,” Janiec said. “It’s great to put St. Louis on the map and show that we can play lacrosse out here, too.”