The Linn-Mar boys soccer team was firing on all cylinders, trouncing Dubuque Hempstead, 7-0, on Senior Night at Linn-Mar Stadium. Thirteen seniors played their last home game in a Linn-Mar uniform Friday night.

“It’s just nice having to finally get into the stadium of our senior year,” senior Michael Zimmerman said. “Playing football, we finished it out on Armstrong (Field), and just being able to play here (Linn-Mar Stadium), it is just such a nice facility.”

This particular group of seniors has meant a lot to Coach Corey Brinkmeyer.

“This is a really special senior class. Not only is it one of the biggest that we have ever had, but to have 13 seniors on the varsity team is next to unheard of,” he said. “Some of these guys, at least three or four of them, have been with me for four years and many of the others for at least three. It is a very special class and I am very proud of what they have accomplished.”

The Lions (7-8, 4-8 MVC) dominated possession, seeming to furnish a dangerous scoring opportunity or two on nearly every possession against the Mustangs (1-13, 1-11).

“We played possession early on in the season, and then we kind of got into a counter-attacking mode, so really we are just trying to bridge the gap,” Brinkmeyer said. “I think tonight we kind of found it. I am pleased with the overall effort.”

Conversely, the Lions held the Mustangs' attack completely in check. The ball didn’t find its way to the Lions' keeper until the second half and Hempstead was never able to get a shot off.

“Our defense has been what we are best known for all season,” Brinkmeyer said. “All of our games for the most part have been close. We knew coming in that we would have a good opportunity to get another shutout, and not only is it a shutout for our goalie, but for our entire defense as well.”

Linn-Mar jumped out early on Hempstead, scoring just 5:30 into the game when Jon Paulson headed it into the goal and the Lions never looked back, running out to a 5-0 halftime lead.

The Lions didn’t sit on their lead, continuing to attack. Braxton Lancial scored a nifty goal from inside the box less than four minutes into the second half and the Linn-Mar bench took over.  Although the Lions only got it into the net one more time, they created plenty of opportunities and remained on the offensive the entire half.

As evidenced by their dominate performance, the Lions are starting to get things figured out for a run in the postseason.

“I think we are starting to grow up a little bit,” Ryan Gingrich said. “In the beginning of the season we were very frantic on the field whenever we got the ball. We always wanted to get rid of the ball right away to the next person. We started to settle down and we’ve started to get our heads up, and we have been finding our teammates a lot better.”

The Lions couldn’t have picked a better time to be peaking as a team.

“We found out our substate draws and it is similar to the one we had freshman year when we went to state,” Zimmerman said. “So we figure if we can start building momentum now, as our team is starting to peak, finally, we can hopefully pull off something similar to what we did freshman year. Even though we don’t have the best record, we can make
a run on state.”

Linn-Mar 7, Hempstead 0
Goals -- LM: Jon Paulson (5th min), Ben McClimon (19th min), Michael Zimmerman (22nd min), Tyler Lemon (31st min), Braxton Lancial (43rd min), Will Strouf (78th min). DH: Dylan Doerges – own goal (28th min). Assists -- LM: Ryan Gingrich, Brian Simons, Noah Landherr, Kyle Schellhorn.