Lakers Win CCAC Conference Men's Soccer Shootout Over St. Xavier

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Roosevelt University men's soccer team came out on top of an exciting CCAC Conference match-up, defeating St. Xavier University by the score of 5-4 on Wednesday, October 19 at Morris Field.  The win raised the Lakers' conference record to 5-4-1 and evened their overall record at 6-6-1 on the year.

The Lakers took an early lead in the eighth minute when Gabriel Koenig banged in a rebound off a Charlie Brown shot that hit the post for a 1-0 lead. 

Roosevelt then got two goals from Valerio Joos within 1:24 of each other with the freshman slotting a shot into the far left corner in the 29^th minute and then hammering a left footed volley from 35 yards out hitting the underside of the crossbar for a 3-0 advantage.  However, St. Xavier answered back just under four minutes later to make it a 3-1 contest heading into the half, and had an opportunity to cut the margin to 3-2 on a penalty kick but the shot went over the goal.

The Cougars then cut the deficit to 3-2 with a goal 1:11 into the second half, but the Lakers restored their two-goal lead 24 seconds later when Sebastian Rodriguez tapped in a Koenig cross for a 4-2 lead.  Roosevelt added to their lead in the 58^th minute when Oskar Schuster flicked a ball through to Jose Rivera, who raced in and placed a shot into the lower corner for a 5-2 lead. 

Once again, St. Xavier got back into the game with two goals from Fernando Barragan within a 1:13 span to trail 5-4 in the contest.  The Cougars nearly evened the game with a shot off the post later in the second half and the Lakers also hit the post in the 89^th minute on a shot by Eduardo Hernandez.

KEY STATS

• Gabriel Koenig picked up his first goal & assist of the season
• Valerio Joos had two goals to give him three on the year
• Sebastian Rodriguez scored his team leading fifth goal of the season
• Jose Rivera tallied his second goal of this campaign
• Eric Carvajal made five saves in goal for RU
• SXU held a slight 18-14 shot advantage in the match
  

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers are now 8-4 all-time versus the Cougars
• Click here to view the CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers will celebrate "Senior Day" on Saturday, October 22 when they host Trinity Christian College.  Kick-off is set for 2:30pm at Morris Field and fans can watch the game live here.