Panthers hang on to beat Southwest Baptist

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The Drury Panthers hung for a 3-2 win over Southwest Baptist at Harrison Stadium / Curry Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon in Springfield.
 
Drury lifted their record to 3-5-5 and 3-3-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Bearcats dropped to 2-8-2 and 1-7-1 in the league.
 
Southwest Baptist struck first as Joshua Gerdiman fired a perfectly placed shot in the upper right corner of the net in the 20^th minute for his second goal of the season.
 
The Panthers followed with a flurry of shots and broke through with goals less than a minute apart in the 38^th minute. John Clout put in a shot from a throw-in from Jakob Limpert, who got the assist. It was Clout’s second goal of the season. Drury scored 40 seconds later as Lui Bull scored his third of the year to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.
 
“The character of this team is there; we’re just young,” said Drury head coach Ben Taylor. “We’re young but talented and we’ve got to understand that to win at this level, you can have all the talent you want, but you have to be a grinder.”
 
Drury went up 3-1 early in the second half as J.J. Adikwu put in his third goal of the year, with assists going to Jason Puente and Jude Rodwell.
 
However, the Bearcats weren’t done, and they pulled within one in the 64^th minute on a goal from Alex Marealle. They kept pressure on the Panthers when a Drury red card had the Panthers playing one man down with nine minutes remaining. Drury turned away the threat and held on for the win. 
 
Ben Barnett, making his first collegiate start in goal, got the win for Drury as the Lawrence, Kansas, native saw four shots and made one save.
 
“We got the three points in the end,” said Drury midfielder Lucas Schofield, who had an assist on Bull’s goal in the first half. “First off, we should have had a few more goals because we had some good chances. In the second half, I think we dropped off a bit, but overall we were able to get the three points even though it got scrappy in the end.”
 
The Panthers play again on Friday when they host Rockhurst for a 7:30 p.m. match at the Lake Country Soccer Complex in Springfield.
 
 
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