St. Norbert College scored three goals in the first 13 minutes and the Lakeland University men's soccer team lost a 7-1 decision in its opener for the 2016 season.

The Muskies capitalized on a penalty kick by Renan Asato (Sr.-Sao Paolo, Brazil) in the 56th minute for their lone goal, but scoring opportunities were otherwise few and far between.  Lakeland also was defeated in the first game for Marc Baumbach, who was making his debut as the team's head coach.

The Green Knights are the defending Midwest Conference champions and are picked to win the MWC again this year, and they displayed their depth as seven different players scored goals. Three of those came in the first 12:48, part of SNC building a 5-0 halftime lead.

Tyler Kassube broke the ice with the first goal 8:15 into the match off a pass by Ben Prange, and Kassube then returned the favor 1:21 later with an assist on Prange's goal to make it 2-0. Sam Lamers followed just over three minutes later for a 3-0 lead.

The Muskies generated four shots, with Asato's penalty kick the only one on goal. John Bentler (Fr.-Seattle, Wash.), Bonny Figueroa (Fr.-El Cajon, Calif.) and Dustin Garbe (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) also all added shot attempts. Three of the four shot attempts came in the second half, when Lakeland settled down and held the guests to two goals and seven shot attempts after five goals and 11 shots in the first half.

Thomis Mannebach (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) went the distance in goal and stopped five shots for the Muskies.

Lakeland returns to action this weekend with a two-day road trip into Illinois. The Muskies are at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington on Sunday and then face Millikin (Ill.) University on Monday in Decatur. Both games will start at 5 p.m.