JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  – Northeastern State couldn't recover from an early hole on Saturday, falling 3-1 on the road to Lincoln (Mo.) at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.

Lincoln jumped ahead quickly with two goals in the opening 20 minutes. Hadri Lopez opened the scoring in the 17th minute, finishing off a pass from Matthew Baker. Less than three minutes later, Lopez turned provider, setting up Adam Benrahou to double the Blue Tigers' lead.

Lincoln's momentum carried into the second half when Rajae Lawrence struck just after the break to make it 3-0.

The RiverHawks pushed back late, with Martin Martinez pulling one back in the 82nd minute — his first goal of the season — but the comeback ended there.

Northeastern State created chances, with an 11-8 edge in shots on goal, but Blue Tigers keeper Vincent Osei came up with nine saves.

Goalkeeper Jaron Noble stopped five shots for the RiverHawks before giving way to Cameron McColloch in the 55th minute.

With the loss, Northeastern State dropped to 0-1-1 on the season. Lincoln opened its campaign 1-0-0.