The University of Tampa scored first, forcing men's ACHA DII ice hockey to come from behind in a 5-2 victory Saturday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

That opening goal came just over two minutes into the game and the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Spartans through the entire opening period and halfway through the second. The tide turned when Gabriel Vijuk split the pipes on a play set up by Brett Bell and Chase McClellan at 13:22 to tie the contest. After the two teams exchanged penalties at 14:44 to go four-on-four, Tampa took another penalty to give the Lions a man-advantage at 15:51. Jack Louko cashed it in at 17:28, assisted by Nick Jones and McClellan and Lindenwood led for the first time at 2-1, a score that held into the second intermission.

The Lions pulled away in the third. Jones scored his third of the season with help from Louko and the third assist of the game from McClellan at 4:13 to extend the advantage to 3-1. Some feisty play resulted in a two-minute high-sticking call against Lindenwood and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty against the Spartans. While the teams still skated four-on-four, Zach Maupin found himself alone with the puck and skated in for an unassisted goal at 10:01 and a 4-1 lead. As the game misconduct power play for the Lions continued, Tampa managed to turn the tables with a short-handed goal at 11:30 to cut the deficit to 4-2. With that score still maintained, the Spartans pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, but Austin Meers and Ethan Christofferson combined to set up Nick Jones for the empty-netter with 19-seconds left in regulation to give Lindenwood the clincher at 5-2.

The Lions outshot the University of Tampa 43 to 32 and Justin Grenon stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal. Lindenwood scored once on six power plays while holding the Spartans scoreless on four man-advantage chances.
With the win, the Lions improved to 4-0 for the season. They will seek a sweep when they face the University of Tampa in the second game of the series Sunday afternoon. The puck drops at 1:30 p.m. at the Centene Community Ice Center.