Oct. 13, 2002
The year was 1985. Miami Vice was in, the Superbowl Shuffle was cool, and the Kansas City Royals faced the St. Louis Cardinals in an All-Missouri World Series. It also happens to be the last time a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team posted a winning streak better than the current nine-game stretch boasted by the 2002 squad.
The Panthers garnered the aforementioned ninth-straight victory here Sunday (Oct. 13), handling Wright State University 5-0 in a Horizon League contest. With the win, the No. 17 Panthers improve to 9-1-1 overall and 3-0-0 in league play while Wright State falls to 5-8-1 on the season and 2-2 in loop action. UWM's current winning streak is the second longest in school history, trailing only the 1985 squad which started off the season winning 12 straight games.
Milwaukee wasted little time in asserting its dominance in the match en route to a 2-0 lead less than 20 minutes into play. Forward Kyle Lance dented the scoreboard first when he slid a shot inside the right post after a pair of nifty passes from teammates Antou Jallow and B.J. Blake. Then, less than four minutes later, Blake continued his recent scoring tear when he blasted a seven-yard shot for a 2-0 Panther lead. The junior, who has scored three goals and notched three assists in the last two games, juked three different Raider defenders en route to his fifth goal of the season.
"B.J. is really playing well," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "He is crossing the ball with accuracy, playing defense, and finishing runs. He has been putting together a complete game and that is impressive. He is using his athleticism to his advantage."
Heading into the second half with a 2-0 lead, Bennett took the chance to rest some starters and give his talented reserves a chance to succeed. Even with new players in new positions, UWM continued to attack the Wright State net to the tune of three second half goals on 11 shots. Senior Chad Dombrowski tallied his first goal of the year less than three minutes into the second half when he hammered a shot home off a pair of assists from Evan Richardson and Bobby Lish.
With Wright State down a man due to a first half red card, the Panthers continued to play offensive soccer as freshman Kyle Zenoni made it 4-0 at the 58:02 mark. Zenoni blasted an impressive shot from 25 yards out after settling a Kevin Roethe crossing pass. Dombrowski added UWM's final marker in the 82nd minute when he headed home a B.J. Blake cross for his second goal of the match. In the end, Milwaukee registered 18 shots to five for WSU while garnering six corner kick opportunities to zero for the visitors.
"It's nice to post such a big win against a conference opponent," Bennett added. "We scored five goals without any free kicks or 'gimmies'. We played 18 players and it was nice to get some of our talented reserves in there. They are just as important in our success as our starters and they proved that today."
Milwaukee will take its No. 17 national ranking west on Interstate 94 for a Wednesday (Oct. 16) battle with the University of Wisconsin. The match is to begin at 7:00 p.m. in Madison.
