LOVES PARK, Ill. – Rockford (Ill.) University's Anders Wermuth converted a penalty kick with 8:28 left in regulation and the Lakeland University men's soccer team took a tough 2-1 loss Saturday afternoon in both teams' Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference openers.

Wermuth's goal capped a comeback from a halftime deficit for the Regents after the Muskies got the game's first goal. Rockford moved to 4-2-1 overall, while Lakeland dropped to 1-6 after playing on the road for the fifth time in six matches.

Nwachan (Ayoko) Nda (Sr.-Douala Litoral Region, Cameroon) and Dustin Garbe (Jr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) teamed up for the second straight game to get Lakeland on the board. Garbe's crossing pass found Nda, who scored for the second straight match and put the Muskies ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute.

Rockford scored the equalizer 11:48 after halftime when Omar Rivas cleaned up a rebound for his fifth goal of the season. The match stayed that way until the 82nd minute, when a foul led to a penalty kick for Wermuth.

The Regents outshot Lakeland 13-9 and held a slim 5-4 lead in shots on goal. Garbe led Lakeland with three shot attempts while Nda and Renan Asato (Sr.-Sao Paolo, Brazil) added two shots each.

Thomis Mannebach (Jr.-Florence, Wis.) made three saves in goal for Lakeland. Anthony Beck also made three saves in getting the win for Rockford.

The Muskies are now home twice this week, welcoming Maranatha Baptist University for a non-conference match Tuesday at 4 p.m. and then hosting Dominican (Ill.) University at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.