CALEDONIA, Mich. - In nothing short of a chippy and eventful contest, the Davenport University men's soccer team bested Roosevelt University, 2-1, in the first-ever match between the programs.

"Roosevelt brought a great team… they came in undefeated (3-0-2) and we were hoping to give them their first loss," said head coach Chris Hughes. "It was a sludge fest. It wasn't pretty, but in the end, we had a chance to be effective and took advantage of it."

It was nearly even between the teams in shot total (11 by DU, 10 by Roosevelt) as the teams combined for eight yellow cards and 29 fouls overall. Both teams managed half a dozen shots through nearly 40 minutes of the first half, but the Panthers would muster the only attempts on target with two overall. With the clocking nearing halftime, a costly handball by Roosevelt in its box gave DU a look at a penalty kick chance. Max Wilhelm stood up to the pressure and sent a rocket into the top left corner, tallying his first goal as a Panther to give DU a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Aggressive defense from each side limited the Panthers to one shot attempt compared to Roosevelt's two as a yellow card assigned to both squads highlighted the frustrations just under 15 minutes into the second. Nearing the 70th minute, a corner kick opportunity for the Lakers was well-executed as a volley by Noah Vasilev set up Gabriel Koening for Roosevelt's only goal of the match, 1-1. Just over three minutes later, Klaris Kurti sent a through ball to Dykstra for a one-on-one break against the keeper, the seasoned forward showing poise by flicking the ball over the keeper's hands to rake in his third goal and second-game winner of 2024.

DU tallied its first conference win this year (1-1 GLIAC) as they improved to 4-3-1 overall. The Panthers resume conference play at PNW and Parkside Oct. 4-6.