Bonny Figueroa (Sr.-El Cajon, Calif.) and Thomas Sanuk (So.-Milwaukee, Wis.) scored early goals and the Lakeland University men's soccer team rode a strong start to a 3-2 win over Moody Bible Institute (Ill.) Saturday night at Taylor Field.

The Muskies made the most of their long-awaited home opener, prevailing in an entertaining game with their biggest scoring outburst so far. Lakeland earned its second win of the season and also defeated Moody for the first time in three meetings.

The Muskies (2-3-1 overall) got the best of play in the first half, outshooting the Archers (2-3 overall) 11-3 in the first 45 minutes. That included a pair of goals in the first 17 minutes as Lakeland took an early lead and never trailed despite a second rally by Moody.

Figueroa opened the scoring just over 12 minutes in when he and John Bentler (Sr.-Seattle, Wash.) executed a superb give-and-go off a free kick. Lined up just outside the 18 on the left side, Figueroa put the ball in play, then got it back from Bentler and drilled a shot from a sharp angle over Moody keeper Tom Menard and into the top right corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

The Muskies scored again less than five minutes later, as Figueroa served in a free kick from 28 yards out near the right sideline. Menard got his hands on the ball but couldn't corral it, and Sanuk was right there to head it out of the air and into the net for his first collegiate goal.

The Archers would get a goal back late in the first half when Daniel Martinez scored, and it would remain a one-goal match for some time. Lakeland gained some breathing room in the 65th minute after Shousei Suzuki (Sr.-Tokyo, Japan) won a ball just outside the penalty area and got it to Ryoto Kinoshita (Sr.-Kanagawa, Japan), who took one touch and struck a left-footed shot just inside the right post and into the net.

Moody wasn't finished, cutting the deficit back to a goal again in the 70th minute after a quick transition following an Aaron Smith (So.-Lake Geneva, Wis.) goal kick resulted in Beau Rokala chipping a shot out of the air and over Smith. The Archers outshot the Muskies 7-3 in the second half, but did not register a shot the rest of the way after their second goal as Lakeland held on.

The Muskies finished with a 14-10 advantage in shots. Alex Vanden Avond (So.-Luxemburg, Wis.) played the first half in goal and made two saves, while Smith made two saves in the second half, both coming just seconds apart in the 57th minute as he deflected a header by Martinez and then smothered the rebound attempt by Micah Waweru.

Lakeland returns to play Thursday when it travels to face Maranatha Baptist University for a 4 p.m. start in Watertown.