NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College men's soccer team opened the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference season with a 5-1 win over University of Northwestern-St. Paul.

The Eagles controlled the action early and took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute off a deflection in front of the net, but the Knights flipped the script on them by scoring three goals in less than four minutes to take a 3-1 halftime lead.

Luke Meihack put the Knights on the board in the 29th minute with a goal off a missed penalty kick, and Joel Koelpin gave MLC the lead just 28 seconds later when he cleaned up a loose ball following a header by Joe Graumann. Graumann got into the action three minutes later by cleaning up another loose ball in front of the goal off a Meihack pass to push the MLC lead to 3-1.

The Knights held the Eagles in check for much of the second half, and also proved opportunistic on their chances with two more goals. Aaron Swanson scored off a Josh Koelpin pass in the 72nd minute to push the lead to 4-1, and Hugo Ugalde-Bemer finished the scoring in the 76th minute off another Graumann assist.

Meihack's goal was his team-leading second of the season, while Joel Koelpin, Graumann, Swanson and Ugalde-Bemer each scored their first on the season. Graumann also led the Knights with six total shots, while Graumann, Ugalde-Bemer and Meihack each recorded three shots on goal.

Gabriel Plocher was steady throughout in net, stopping 11 of the Eagles' 12 shots on goal.

MLC improved to 2-3 on the season and 1-0 in UMAC play with the win. UNWSP fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in league play in defeat.

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, September 15, when they travel to Bethany Lutheran for a game scheduled to kick off at 4:30 p.m.