ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – When the Roosevelt men's soccer team arrived on campus three months ago, the message was clear: Treat every match like a final.

On Sunday, the actual final arrived and the Lakers poured out their hearts on the field against Saginaw Valley State. Yet despite dominating much of the 110 minutes of action at Morris Field, Roosevelt came up just short in penalty kicks in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament final on its home field.

It was exactly a year ago that the Lakers were in a similar situation on the road in the CCAC Tournament final. But once again, the penalty kicks were cruel to Roosevelt this year. Saginaw Valley State converted on four of its five kicks while the Lakers scored on just three of their five. Eric Carvajal made a critical save on the Cardinals' second attempt to level the score after an early miss for the Lakers, but Roosevelt also missed on its fourth attempt of the shootout.

Sunday was a bittersweet end to a dream season for the Lakers (11-4-3), who earned the right to host the conference tournament by winning the tiebreaker with Saginaw Valley State after the two shared the regular-season crown. Roosevelt was on the front foot for almost the entire first half, holding the ball for roughly 70 percent of the opening
45 minutes. Much of that possession was in the attacking half as well with Saginaw Valley State comfortable sitting back and absorbing pressure.

The consistent possession led to several great chances for the Lakers in the first half, but it wasn't until the 40^th minute that Roosevelt capitalized. Saginaw Valley State struggled to clear some of the pressure from its own goal area, and the ball eventually worked its ways to Rafael Rios. The freshman, who was named to the all-tournament team, was calm on the ball in dekeing around a defender and laying off a pass for Sebastian Rodriguez. The senior's low drive was perfectly placed into the far corner to give the Lakers an early lead.

Carvajal entered the match with four consecutive shutouts, and continued to prove his class without even facing a shot on target. Even with the Cardinals pressing in the second half, Carvajal, another all-tournament team member, kept his defense organized and calmly dealt with the three corner kicks in the half. However, the junior had no answer for an unworldly free kick from 26 yards out that just barely eluded him, snapping his shutout streak at 435:52. Senior defender Emmanuel Castanon rounded out the three Lakers named to the all-tournament team.

Neither team was able to capitalize on their chances in the golden-goal overtime periods although both felt they had the winning goal on their foot during the second overtime. With two and a half minutes left, Saginaw Valley State had an open shot on goal and just barely missed the crossbar while attempting to chip Carvajal. Roosevelt's chance came with less than a minute left when Nick Kilian's service into the box off a free kick fell to Khori Miles, who also skied his shot just over the crossbar.

The two teams both attempted just nine shots over the course of 110 minutes of play with Roosevelt leading 4-2 in shots on target. The Lakers had four shots in the first half and four more in the second, but didn't register another shot until Miles' attempt. The Cardinals attempted three shots in the overtime only one actually reached the target.