ARLINGTION HEIGHTS – A meeting between two of the top teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference lived up to the hype Friday as Roosevelt and Northern Michigan shared the points with a 1-1 draw Friday at Morris Field.
Both teams had their share of chances with Roosevelt finishing with a slight 9-8 edge in shot attempts, not counting the dozens of crossing attempts both teams had that were cleared by the opposition. There were just five total shots on goal, and the most dangerous one from either side is the one that ended up in the back of the net.
The Wildcats struck first in the 61st minute, scoring the first second-half goal on Roosevelt this season, with a header near the back post. The Lakers (4-0-4, 2-0-2 GLIAC) responded in the 70th minute with Alexander Panduro taking advantage of a deflection and burying a shot into the lower-left corner.
After Northern Michigan took the lead, Roosevelt began pressing forward with a bit more urgency, and it paid off within 10 minutes. A good string of passes left Rafael Rios open on the right side of the field, and he tried to swing a ball into Nikola Dimitrijevic in the box. The pass was instead deflected to Panduro, who took a touch to settle the ball then fired the shot low through some traffic.
There were just two shot attempts over the final 20 minutes of action as both teams hunkered down defensively and kept the opponents on the fringes. The draw preserved the best start in program history for the Lakers and extended their run to 19 games unbeaten at home.
UP NEXT: Roosevelt starts a short two-game road swing next Friday against rival Saginaw Valley State in Michigan, the first of two meetings within nine days between the teams that have finished first and second in the league the past two seasons.
