Sept. 10, 2000
MILWAUKEE-The UWM Men's Soccer team lost its second straight game this weekend, 3-1, when it played Bowling Green on Sunday in the Panther Invitational at Engelmann Field. The Panthers' other 3-1 loss came against Hartford in Saturday's round of the tournament.
Bowling Green came out strong in the opening half, creating many chances in the attack. The Falcons scored late in the half after catching UWM on a fast break. Defender Matt Lyons finished the attack with a nice chip over UWM goalkeeper Chris Dadian, to go 1-0 into halftime.
"In any game, when you come in second, you are not going to win," said UWM coach Louis Bennett. "Very rarely today were we the first to the ball, the first to get position in the box, or the first to get a good touch on the ball."
The Falcons scored two more goals in the second half to hold a 3-0 lead. Forward Detrick Matthews was left open in the middle of the Panthers' box and finished off the ball from five yards out in the 59th minute. Eight minutes later, defender Fred Degand headed down a cross into the back of UWM's net.
"The style and the way that we play require organization and constant attention to detail. This weekend, at different times in both games, we lost our focus and our attention to detail," said Bennett. "It seems that we are capable of beating any team by three goals or we are capable of losing to anyone by three goals. Inconsistency is a sign of a lack of concentration and inattention to details."
UWM had some good scoring opportunities in the second half, most notably one coming off a combination play of sophomore midfielder Kevin Roethe and freshman Daniel Saavedra. Roethe ran on to a through ball sent by Saavedra into space, striking it far post and forcing the goalkeeper to make the save.
Facing the three-goal deficit, the Panthers turned it on late in the game when sophomore defender Chad Dombrowski converted on a penalty kick awarded to him after he was taken down in the Falcons' box. Dombrowski's goal came in the 83rd minute, ending the game's scoring at 3-1.
"After five games, the biggest surprise is how capable we are of creating chances to score and how incapable we are of stopping the ball from hitting our own net," said Bennett.
