OSHKOSH, Wis. (Duhawks.com) - Plenty of anticipation surrounded Tuesday night's non-conference tilt between the 11th-ranked Loras Men's Soccer team and UW-Oshkosh. In the end, it would be the connection between the two players Loras was without for much of 2014 that lifted them to victory on opening day.

Much of Loras' (1-0-0) success over the past few seasons has been the ability to put opponents on their heels, which is exactly what happened on Tuesday night from the opening whistle against UW-Oshkosh (0-1-0). The Duhawks' swarm and high-tempo earned them a corner kick just three minutes into the game. With junior Alex Bradley standing near the corner flag, his service connected with senior Bryan Irwin at the near post who flicked it on and found senior Jorge Simon waiting to deliver home the game's first goal.

The following 30 minutes brought with it more pressure from Loras, regardless of the personnel on the field. Unfortunately for Loras, many of their offensive runs were whistled dead for offsides. Five of Loras' six offsides on Tuesday came in the opening 45.

With time dwindling away in the first half, the Titans began to gain momentum and eventually earned a fortunate bounce deep in Loras' territory. JT Heidvogel leveled the offerings at one with his tally from five yards out.

Even with the strong performance in the opening minutes of the second half, Loras struggled to connect through to the attacking third. The first line of forwards departed in the 63rd minute, only to return 10 minutes later with a new wind.

With less than 13 minutes to play, Loras broke the 1-1 tie thanks to a strong through-ball played by Bradley at midfield. Rummelhart received the pass with ease and showed his maturity in finding an open angle to blast away what would eventually become the game-winner.

Missed opportunities down the stretch crippled Loras, which as a result forced the Duhawks to spend more time in their half of the field than ideal.

The Titans did what they could to put balls on target as time dwindled away, but sophomore Jacob Peterson and his defense were up to the task to secure the 2-1 win.

With the victory, it marks the first time in program history that Loras has walked away from J.J. Keller Stadium victorious.