Oct. 25, 2002

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - With three games in six days, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee head men's soccer coach Louis Bennett hoped to get a chance to rest some of his worn-down troops. As it turns out, the UWM seventh year head man couldn't have drawn up a more perfect result as his Panthers handled in-state rival University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 5-0 in Horizon League action here Friday (Oct. 25). Milwaukee improved to 13-1-1 on the season and 5-0 in conference play, all while resting four regular starters the entire match. With the loss, Green Bay failed to win back the "Chancellor's Cup" in dropping to 3-12 overall and 1-5 in the league. The win was a school-record 13th in a row for UWM, topping the mark of 12 straight set by the 1985 squad.

"We executed the game plan to perfection today," Bennett said. "We wanted to go in, get on top early, and not have to use a lot of our key players. I always say you play as good as you practice and that holds true for every guy on the roster. Today we played every healthy, eligible player and they all played well."

Milwaukee asserted its dominance from the beginning and left little doubt into the outcome of the game as quickly as twelve minutes into the first half. Midfielder Kyle Zenoni, starting in place of Tighe Dombrowski, started what turned out to be an impressive individual performance, by rifling a 35-yard blast into the net to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 5:07 mark. UWM quickly made it 2-0 just six minutes later when defender Chad Dombrowski scored his third goal of the season and first of two in the game. The senior blasted home a shot inside the penalty box thanks to a nifty one-touch pass from junior Bobby Lish.

The trio of Zenoni, Dombrowski, and Lish all combined on the third Panther goal, this one coming 5:09 into the second half. Lish headed home a Zenoni crossing pass into an empty net. Dombrowski set the play up with a long pass to Zenoni, who then crossed a ball in front of the net for Lish who scored his third goal of the season.

The rout was on 20 minutes later when Dombrowski scored his second goal of the game and fourth in five contests. The West Allis-native put the finishing touches off a sweet give and go from Zenoni and junior B.J. Blake. Dombrowski, a former forward turned defender, now has 12 points on the season, 11 of which have come in the last five games.

With the 4-0 lead Bennett was able to clear his bench and try some different lineups on the field. Backup goalkeepers Brad Swenby and Kirk Thode each played nearly 10 minutes up top while UWM's starting forwards, Kyle Lance and Blake, each moved back to defense. Midfielder Julian Chang ended a personal scoring slump when he drilled home a 15 yard shot off a Cameron Benke pass. The goal was the first of the season for the junior Chang. Senior netminder Chris Dadaian notched his seventh shutout of the season while not facing a single shot from the Green Bay offense.

"Kyle Zenoni really played well today, as did the entire team," noted Bennett. "He did a nice job organizing and his vision was good. We had a job to do and it was business as usual for us. It's always nice to beat an instate rival and we have now beaten all three instate schools two years in a row now."

UWM will look to keep things rolling on Sunday (Oct. 27) with the last of a short, three-game homestand. The Panthers will play host to Cleveland State University in a 12 p.m. contest at Engelmann Field.