ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Roosevelt battled to an exciting 1-1 draw with No. 23 Lewis on Wednesday night at Morris Field in the Lakers' non-conference finale.

Alexander Amaya smashed home the opening goal late in the first half against the run of play, but the Flyers tallied on a breakaway in the second half to equalize. It was a game that might have looked like it was dominated by Lewis in terms of possession and shot attempts, but just four of the Flyers' 14 shots actually were on frame whereas the Lakers put three of their five on target.

Roosevelt's defense held strong for nearly the entire 90 minutes, blocking five shots and forcing several other attempts to come from tough angles. Senior goalkeeper Eric Carvajal patrolled his penalty area effectively, punching out many aerial threats to avoid dangerous headers on corner kicks and free kicks. The Arlington Heights native finished with three saves in the tie.

Lewis held onto the ball for much of the first half, pinning the Lakers into their end of the field with nearly half of the Flyers' possession coming in their attacking third. Yet, Roosevelt was able to deal with the dangers and mount some counterattacks that tested the Flyers defense. Caco Fernandez had Roosevelt's first chance of the game, but his header came too close to the Lewis keeper.

In the 35^th minute, Amaya came onto the field for the Lakers and it took him less than a minute to make an impact in his second career appearance. The midfielder was not part of the original play as the Lakers built up the attack along the left side. Fynn Mewes crossed the ball looking for Oskar Schuster in the middle, but Amaya ran to the back post and slammed in loose ball with a hair under 10 minutes left to put Roosevelt on the board.,

It was the freshman's first career goal and was the highlight of the physical battle that was brewing between the two rivals. The teams were called for 21 fouls in the opening 45 minutes and three yellow cards were issued in the first half before one was given to a Lewis coach at the start of halftime. Lewis was whistled for 10 more fouls in the second half, but the tension largely simmered down after halftime.

The Flyers were able to tally in the 60^th minute and the teams spent the final 30 minutes looking for a winner. Krystian Niziolek had a pair of great chances for Roosevelt in the final 20 minutes, but both of his attempts barely sailed over the goal. Angelo Piech had the only other shot in the game for the Lakers and his attempt in the 67^th minute was easily stopped by the Flyers keeper.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt begins its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title defense on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Hammond, Ind. at Purdue Northwest. The Pride and Lakers each won on the road last year in their two meetings.