Men's ACHA DII ice hockey settled for a split in a two-game series with Florida Gulf Coast as the Lions topped the Eagles 5-3 Friday night before dropping the second contest 4-3 Saturday night at Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, Florida.

Lindenwood fell behind early in the finale despite outshooting FGCU 10-6 in the opening frame. The Eagles netted the only goal of the period at 16:45 to take a 1-0 lead.
A bench minor penalty on the Lions at the 2:31 mark of the second led to a power play goal for Florida Gulf Coast at 4:05. FGCU returned the favor moments later with a hooking minor and Austin Meers cashed it in with his fifth of the season on a play set up by Jack Louko and Brock Hart at 6:05 to cut the deficit in half. There were several more penalty calls in the final 14 minutes of the second, but the next two goals came at even strength. The Eagles made it 3-1 at 11:55 and then Brett Robinson sounded the horn for his first of the season at 18:01 with help from Zac Maupin and Carter Walby and it was 3-2 FGCU at the second intermission.

The Eagles scored what turned out to be the game-winner midway through the third at the 10:12 mark. Lindenwood created multiple scoring chances down the stretch, outshooting Florida Gulf Coast 19-6 in the final period, but the Lions could only find one goal off Louko's blade at 14:52. Hart earned his 11^th assist of the season with Nick Puricelli getting the secondary helper.

Overall, the Lions outshot the Eagles 34 to 21 and Cole Wheaton stopped 17 of the 21 pucks he faced in a loss.

In the opener on Friday, Lindenwood had to come back from two early one-goal deficits but finally took control of the game midway through the second. The first Eagles score came at 3:06 of the first but a cross-checking call gave the Lions a power play at 10:22 and Louko split the pipes with the man-advantage at 11:41, assisted by Austin Meers and Nick Jones. The score remained tied at one into the first intermission.

After a Florida Gulf Coast goal just 46 seconds into the middle frame, Louko struck again with help from Meers and Finnigan Greeley at 4:24 to tie the score at 2-2. The first score of the season from Zachary Schwartz gave Lindenwood the lead for good at 9:20. Louko and Meers earned the assists on the play for the 3-2 advantage.

Both teams continued to put shots on goal the rest of the second and through the third, but only three goals were scored, and they all came in the final six minutes of the game. Puricelli made it 4-2 off a feed from Schwartz at 14:11 before the Eagles stayed close at 17:58, but Jones slammed the door on an unassisted play with 58-seconds remaining.

The Lions outshot Florida Gulf Coast 40-25 and Wheaton stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal. Lindenwood scored once on three power plays while holding the Eagles scoreless on two man-advantage chances.

With the split, the Lions are now 6-2-1 on the season. After four games in a row on the road, they return home for a two-game set against Liberty University October 16-17. The opening faceoff is set for 8:40 p.m. Friday night and 8:15 p.m. Saturday night at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.