ELMHURST, Ill. – Elmhurst University scored a pair of goals in the first 15 minutes and the Lakeland University men's soccer team was defeated 2-0 in both teams' season opener Friday night.

The Muskies rebounded nicely after surrendering the two early goals but were unable to find the back of the net in falling to the Bluejays for the second straight season. The Muskies improved on their performance against Elmhurst, though, after falling 3-0 to the Bluejays in a meeting between the teams at Lakeland last season.

Elmhurst carried play early and broke the ice just over 10 minutes into the game when Brady Lucas scored with an assist from Maciej Rzadkosz. The Bluejays tacked on another just 4:29 later, when Ryan Nguyen scored with an assist from Jacob Wipke.

Elmhurst generated the match's first six shots, but from there Lakeland settled down and would outshoot Elmhurst 13-8 the rest of the game. The Muskies received some help in the second half, when a red card in the 49th minute kept the Bluejays a man down the rest of the match.

Jordan Davis-Troller (Jr.-Cottage Grove, Wis.) led Lakeland with five shot attempts, including three on goal. Freshmen Justin Cain (Houston, Texas) and Dunia Wangu (Milwaukee, Wis.) added two shots each.

Zach Heiman (Sr.-Racine, Wis.) made seven saves in goal for the Muskies. Niyen Ruffin made seven saves to earn the shutout for Elmhurst.

Lakeland opens its home schedule Sunday when it hosts the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 1 p.m. at Taylor Field.