MSOE Raiders
at Lakeland University Muskies
Wednesday, March 17, 2021Â Â 7 p.m.
Taylor Field
Lakeland/MSOE Game Notes  PDF
The Lakeland University men's soccer team makes its return to play after the coronavirus canceled the team's fall season, and the Muskies will host Milwaukee School of Engineering on St. Patrick's Day for a 7 p.m. start at Taylor Field
Fan attendance policy:Â Lakeland University is permitting up to 250 spectators at soccer matches, limited to current Lakeland faculty, staff and students and family of Muskies players on a pass list. For more information visitÂ
https://lakelandmuskies.com/sports/2021/3/11/covid-19-fan-policies.aspx.
Broadcast Information:Â Live video and statistics for all Lakeland men's soccer home matches are available atÂ
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive.
Series history:Â All-time records are incomplete, but Lakeland and Milwaukee School of Engineering have been meeting since at least 1983. The Raiders hold a 27-15-3 lead in known matches since 1983 and have won three straight in the series, including most recently a 3-0 victory in Milwaukee Sept. 25, 2019. MSOE has won 10 of the last 11 matchups between the two, but the Muskies do have a recent success against the Raiders, though, with a 3-2 win Oct. 19, 2016 at Lakeland. In one of the more memorable Muskies men's soccer wins in recent years, Charles Apostolik scored the go-ahead goal in teh 73rd minute and
Thomis Mannebach made 13 saves as the Muskies knocked off the then two-time defending Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament champions.
About Lakeland: The Muskies make their return to competition for the first time in 504 days, since concluding their 2019 season on Oct. 30 of that year with a loss to Concordia Wisconsin. It it Lakeland's first game of the school year after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the postponement of all NACC fall schedules to the spring. The conference also has moved to separate North and South divisions for just this spring, meaning the Muskies will face MSOE, Edgewood and Wisconsin Lutheran twice each and Concordia Wisconsin and Marian once each as part of an eight-game schedule.
Lakeland is led by third-year head coach
Rick Mobley, who led the Muskies to a 3-16-1 record in his second season in the fall of 2019. Lakeland posted wins over Moodby Bible Institute, Northland and Ripon that year, and this year will look for its first win over a NACC team since 2016. A young squad of 20 players includes 13 freshmen and just one senior (Rodolfo Monarrez II). Six starters do return from 2019, though, including two-year starters
Denver Roberts and
Thomas Sanuk and goalkeeper
Aaron Smith.
About MSOE: The Raiders also are playing their first match of the 2020-21 season. MSOE is annually one of the better programs in the NACC and last season finished 10-7-2 overall and 7-3-1 in conference. The Raiders qualified for the NACC Tournament and reached the semifinals before falling 1-0 in the semifinals to eventual champion Dominican. Coach Rob Harrington is in his third year leading MSOE and he welcomes back a team with six starters back, including first team all-NACC forward Joey Schauer plus honorable mention all-conference goalkeeper Ron Marchionna.
Muskies in openers: Lakeland is aiming for its first win in a season opener in more than seven years, since it defeated Ripon 2-0 on Aug. 31, 2013. The Muskies are 0-4-2 in openers since, including a tie with Finlandia (Mich.) in 2019. In season openers since 1991, Lakeland has as many wins as ties, with a 6-17-6 record in that time, including a 4-4 tie with MSOE the last time the two faced off to start a season Sept. 10, 1996.
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