GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Sharn Appel (Jr., Zimbabwe) fired home three goals, while Mike Willar (Fr., Cape Town, South Africa) and Alasdair Campbell (Jr., Dunfermine, Scotland)  both chipped in pairs of scores, as No. 19-nationally ranked Lindenwood University Lions caged the No. 17-ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State University 11-7 in the opening round of the National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Florida.

The victory sets up a meeting between the Lions and No. 1-nationally ranked UCLA at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, November 14.  Lindenwood will need to knock off the Bruins, a 19-2 victory over the University of Minnesota in the first round, to advance to the semifinals and guarantee at least a Top Four finish at the tournament.

Penn State will next be in action at 8:40 p.m. this evening against Minnesota in a consolation bracket game as the Nittany Lions can now finish no higher than 9th in the 16-team championship field.

The game appeared to be an even match-up in the early going as Lindenwood opened up 1-0 and 2-1 leads before the Nittany Lions responded to knot the contest up. 

However, Lindenwood began to pull away as Campbell and Marwan Imam (So., Cairo, Egypt) connected on shots to give the Lions a 4-2 lead the break.

The lead continued to expand in the second period as Marko Cubronavic (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia) scored on a man-up opportunity at the 5:55 mark and Justin Bowers (Jr., Grand Rapids, Mich.) registered a counter goal with seven seconds left on the clock to sandwich a man-up goal by PSU's Mike Frasso (Sr., Mohnton, Pa.) with 1:27 left in the period for a 6-3 Lindenwood lead at halftime.

Lindenwood continued to pour it on in the third period as Appel scored a man-up goal at 4:40 and tacked on a natural goal at 1:07 to highlight a 4-1 scoring advantage by the Lions in the third period to carry a 10-4 advantage into the final seven minutes of play.

PSU attempted to rally back as Frasso and Mitch Palski (Sr., Harleysville, Pa.) cashed in on man-up chances with 4:46 and 4:03 left on the game clock, respectively, to pull the Nittany Lions within four at 10-6, but Lindenwood closed out the game with a pair of scores at 2:35 and 13 seconds to take the 11-7 victory.

In a battle of Lions, Aaron Saule (Sr., Olathe, Kansas) came out the leader of the pride making seven saves to earn the win for the Lions, while Penn State's Lane Jubb (Sr., King of Prussia, Pa.) and Bryan Focht (Sr., Reading, Pa.) combined to block down five shots for the Nittany Lions.

Lindenwood Goals: Sharn Appel (3); Ali Campbell (2); Mike Willar (2); Mark Cubronavic; Marwan Imam; Justin Bowers; Eric Witzel

PSU Goals: Kelsey Britton (2); Mike Frasso (2); Mitch Palski (2); Andrew Bauman;

Saves: Lindenwood - Aaron Saule (7) ; PSU - Lane Jubb (3), Bryan Focht (2)

Exclusions: Lindenwood - 10 ; PSU - 9

Advantage Opportunities: Lindenwood - 4-for-9 ; PSU - 5-for-10

Sprints: Lindenwood - 2-for-4 ; PSU - 2-for-4