ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Roosevelt used a dominant first half to fend off Missouri St. Louis 2-1 on Wednesday night in their home opener at Morris Field.

The Lakers (2-0-1) scored both of their goals in the first half while holding nearly 70 percent of the possession in the opening 45 minutes. The Tritons were content to sit back and allow Roosevelt the space to build up from the back while UMSL tried to stay compact in the middle of the field. However, the Lakers were able to find space behind the Tritons' defense on several occasions to set up good scoring chances.

It took almost 26 minutes for Roosevelt to score its first goal after two great chances were blocked by the UMSL defense. In the 26^th minute, the ball bounced around to Noah Vasilev, who deftly lofted a pass to a sprinting Caco Fernandez, who calmly took a touch and buried the ball into the lower left corner.

Fernandez had another opportunity blocked two minutes later as he found himself in a similar position. As the Lakers continued to create havoc around the Tritons goal, a second score became inevitable and Fynn Mewes delivered in the 30^th minute. A cross from Angelo Piech found the head of Rafael Rios, and although the sophomore's attempt was saved, the rebound was in a perfect position for Mewes to clean up the loose ball for his second goal of the season.

Roosevelt held an 11-4 edge in shot attempts in the first half with three of those actually finding the frame. It was a different story in the second half as the Tritons outshot the Lakers 7-5 as they ramped up the pressure on Roosevelt. Although UMSL had more attempts in the second half, many of their dangerous ones sailed high or wide of the goal.

The Lakers, though, were tricky on the counterattack and several times had chances to break the game open with a third goal. Fernandez had an early chance blocked near the goal then Oskar Schuster had a strong chance pushed away with 15 minutes left. Khori Miles nearly sealed the game with two minutes left when he was left alone on a breakout, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Eric Carvajal, the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week, made four saves in the win while Fernandez and Vasilev both had three shot attempts.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt renews its rivalry with Saint Xavier on the road Saturday at 7 p.m. in Chicago.