WATERTOWN, Wis. -- The Sabercats tangled with their familiar opponents, the Rockford University Regents, this afternoon, and bested the wild weather and the hard-working Regents to secure the 1-0 win. Nathan Akers headed in the goal off of a Caleb Hockema cross and Andrew Taylor denied 6 shots for the clean sheet.

The win was the 300th win in Maranatha Men's Soccer program history.

With the win, the Sabercats improve to 1-1-0 on the season while the Regents fall to 0-2-1.

The Basics

• Result: MBU 1-0 RU
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Attendance: 75
• Sabercats: now 1-1 for the season

After the Sabercats knocked on the door early, the breakthrough goal came 14 minutes into the game. After a solid buildup landed the ball at the feet of Caleb Hockema, the sophomore defender launched a dangerous cross from the right wing towards the back post. In the box was a sprinting Nathan Akers, who outjumped his defender to head the ball down into the back of the net. Sabercats 1-0 Regents.

The Regents refused to go away, however, keeping the pressure on the Sabercats throughout the first half. Enter Andrew Taylor, whose goalkeeping heroics kept the Regents at bay. In the ensuing minutes after Akers' goal, Andrew Taylor denied a breakaway opportunity and a couple of dangerous services into the box to keep the Sabercats in front. Entering halftime, the Sabercats were barely holding on to the 1-0 lead.

After the halftime break, MBU seemed to settle into a rhythm and kept possession in the Regents' half for a considerable amount of time in the second half.

Despite the swing in momentum, the Regents threatened the Sabercats' back line on a number of occasions, but could not come up with a clean shot on goal for the majority of the half. Taylor stayed alert to come off of his line on a couple of occasions and bravely caught two dangerous Regent crosses to preserve the lead.

The final scare for the Sabercats came with less than two minutes to play. A foul on the edge of the penalty area gave the Regents a dangerous 20-yard free kick, and up stepped Erik Manriquez to try to equalize. Manriquez's shot swerved over the wall and was heading to the corner, but Taylor came up big one final time and made a diving save to preserve the clean sheet.

"I think overall we were pretty pleased with the progresss that we made after Marian," said Coach Jeff Pill after the game. "We saw specific improvement that we targeted during training, so hats off to the guys for staying process oriented. We made it difficult for ourselves at times, but overall we created a couple of good chances, which is a step up from last game. Andrew Taylor was big in goal for us on several occasions, and it was a good solid team effort. We look forward to our game Saturday at Beloit."

The Sabercats' next test will be Saturday, when they will travel to Beloit College for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff. Since 2010, the series is tied at 3-3.

Catch the game information, including directions and livestream, by visiting mbusabercats.com/composite.