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Lindenwood Grounds Grinnell 23-7 in Opening Game of 2008 Division III Club Championship
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Sharn Appel (So., Harare, Zimbabwe) scored seven goals to earn Player of the Game honors and lead a Lindenwood University offense which posted 13 goals in the second half to pull away and take a 23-7 win over Grinnell College in the opening game of the 2008 Division III Club Championship at Villanova University.
Eight different players scored for the Lions who will take on the winner of a first round game between Carnegie Mellon University and Tufts University at 5:15 p.m. on November 1 in the tournament semifinals with a berth in the title game on the line.
Leading 10-6 at halftime, the Lions went to work rattling off nine goals in the third period and two in the fourth to run out to a 21-6 lead with 5:55 left on the game clock. Grinnell finished the scoring with an advantage goal at 5:35 by Sam Sherwood (Fr., Seattle, Wash.) for his third marker of the day and the 21-7 final.
In goal, Aaron Saule (Jr., Overland Park, Kansas) stopped three shots to earn the win, while Grinnell's Brian Smith (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) blocked down five shots in the loss.
The game appeared primed to be an upset as the Wild Turkeys allowed a goal by Appel 1:37 into the game, but came back to knot the game at 1-1 less than a minute later when Alex Phillips (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) ripped a shot through the rising arms of Saule 2:15 into the contest.
Lindenwood took the lead for good 34 seconds later as Ali Campbell (So., Dunfermaline, Scotland) found the back of the cage to ignite a four goal run by the Lions to jump in front 5-1 with 2:31 remaining in the first period. Patrick Thomas (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) closed the gap to three goals by the end of the period burying a penalty shot with 30 seconds remaining on the clock to pull the Wild Turkeys to within 6-2.
The Turkeys continued to chip away at the margin as Phillips beat Saule at the 7:55 mark (6:05 left in the second period) to inch to within 6-3, but the Lions tallied back-to-back goals by Appel and Campbell with 5:53 and 5:30, respectively, left in the half to go in front 8-3.
The teams traded goals to the halftime horn following a Grinnell goal to pull back to within 8-4 and setup the 10-6 halftime score.
For Lindenwood, Appel led all scorers, while Campbell added four scores to go along with hat-tricks from Marlow Inman (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) and Justin Bowers (So., Grand Rapids, Mich.).
Grinnell will continue the tournament at 4:00 p.m. versus the loser of the Carnegie Mellon-Tufts game.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Grinnell | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Lindenwood | 6 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 23 |
Lindenwood Goals: Sharn Appel (7); Ali Campbell (4); Marlow Inman (3); Justin Bowers (3); Gregor Becker (2); Kevin Gallus (2); Marko Cubrobinic; Austin Walsh
Grinnell Goals: Alex Phillips (3); Sam Sherwood (3); Patrick Thomas
Saves: Lindenwood - Aaron Saule (3); Grinnell - Brian Smith (3)
Ejections: Lindenwood - 7; Grinnell - 7
