ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Roosevelt's aggression early in Sunday's match held up in a 2-0 win over Purdue Northwest in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at Morris Field.
The tone for the rain-soaked match was set immediately off the opening kickoff as the Lakers immediately went on the attack and earned a corner kick in the first 11 seconds. Matt Goulding had a drive blocked in the second minute and the Lions were on their heels while Roosevelt (4-0-2, 2-0-0 GLIAC) swarmed the attacking third.
All of the pressure finally paid off in the 10th minute when Andrea Mercanti sent a crisp pass off a corner kick across the top corner of the penalty box. Fynn Mewes collected the pass and sent a shot to the far post that evaded the Purdue Northwest goalie and a sliding Matti Pickel to give Mewes his sixth goal in six games.
Not content with a single goal, the attack kept building for the Lakers with shots coming from every line of Roosevelt's formation. Krystian Niziolek finally double the lead in the 17th minute when he capitalized on some chaos around the Lions box and easily slotted the ball into the open net.
The play began with Nikola Dimitrijevic trying to take the top off the Purdue Northwest defense with a run. However, the ball eluded him and it fell to Mewes, who took a heavy touch in the rainy conditions. The Lions almost escaped the danger with their goalie out of position, but the defender failed to see Niziolek coming, and the sophomore stole the ball for the easy tally.
Roosevelt held a 15-7 edge in shot attempts and a 7-3 advantage in shots on target. Cedrik Strupler stopped all three of those attempts for his fourth shutout of the season.
UP NEXT: It will be a quicker than normal turnaround for Roosevelt as it welcomes St. Cloud State to Morris Field on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
