Lakers Set Tone With Dominant Home Win Over Cougars

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Roosevelt controlled all 90 minutes of its match Sunday afternoon against Cleary to earn its first win of the season with a 2-1 triumph at Morris Field in Arlington Heights.

The Lakers (1-1-1) never really allowed Cleary to gain a hold on the match, largely dominating possession and continually threatening with dangerous attacks. Roosevelt won three corner kicks within the first two minutes of the game and Alan Rubio barely volleyed a pass over the crossbar in the fifth minute. Two minutes later, Valerio Joos cut inside a Cougars defender and drew a foul inside the penalty area, leading to Davide Comai opening the scoring from the spot.

Not satisfied with one goal, the Lakers continued to swarm around the Cougars goal and nearly potted a second goal on several occasions. Roosevelt had eight shot attempts in the first half, but it squandered those chances with just two hitting the frame. Joos had one attempt stopped and a second blocked in the first 45 minutes while Oskar Schuster barely sent his attempt wide of the right post late in the half.

Roosevelt did capitalize and find a second goal early in the second half despite being down a player. The Lakers forced yet another corner kick in the 56^th minute and Joos delivered a ball to the near post for Eduardo Hernandez, who deftly redirected the ball across the goal for Adam Przytula to smash home. It was the second career goal for the senior defender, who also scored the game-winning goal last season against St. Francis (Ill.).  

The victory was sweeter for the Lakers after they went down a man with about two minutes left in the first half. After Cleary sent a long pass toward the goal area, Strzepka came out to challenge the Cougars forward while defender Tomas Quintana chased him down from behind. Despite it looking like Strzepka successfully poked the ball free, the Cleary player tumbled to the ground and after a discussion, Quintana was judged to have tripped the attacker, earning him a red card.

Roosevelt's defense successfully held on the ensuing free kick with the wall jumping in unison to block the attempt toward the goal. The Cougars did fire off all six of their shot attempts in the second half, but only two managed to actually test Strzepka. The first was Cleary's only goal of the game when an errant back pass from Roosevelt's defenders allowed a breakaway chance for the Cougars. Strzepka then easily handled a second shot attempt with about 15 minutes left for his only save of the match.

Roosevelt will hit the road for its next match, traveling to Mount Mercy in Iowa to face the Mustangs on Saturday at 2 p.m.