Nov. 1, 2002

MILWAUKEE - It may have been a new month but it was the same old result as the #9 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team claimed its 15th consecutive victory with a 2-0 blanking of Butler University in Horizon League action here Friday (Nov. 1). In what was a "business as usual" type of performance, Milwaukee wrapped up the regular season portion of its schedule 15-1-1 and a perfect 7-0-0 in conference play.

The Horizon League title is the second consecutive one for the Panthers while the shutout was the ninth of the season and fourth in succession. Milwaukee will enter the 2002 Horizon League Tournament as the No. 1 seed while Butler 8-9-3 overall and 4-3-0, sits in third place in the league standings.

"Ironically I thought we played very well defensively and they have some very good players up top. In the first half we just didnt look sharp in front of the goal and I think they wanted to stay close on our forwards and it worked well for them," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "We still created a lot of opportunities and in the second half the nature of the game changed. We created opportunities and more familiar opportunities. We did what we had to do. To break down a team like Butler is impressive. They have been a difficult team for us to beat in the past so today's win was nice."

The two teams seemed a bit sluggish in the early going, maybe due in part to a 45-minute delay in the start of the game as the officials were late in arriving. However, after the 10-minute mark of the first stanza UWM turned up the heat and attacked the Bulldog defense throughout. Yet, the BU defense and standout goalkeeper Grant Barrie wouldn't budge, as the two teams headed into the halftime lockerroom in a scoreless tie. The Panther offense took eight shots in the first half, six of which were on goal. Meanwhile, the BU offense could only muster one corner kick and zero shots.

With the wind to their backs, the Panthers came out firing in the second half, once again peppering Barrie with a barrage of shots. Finally, with 54:28 gone, UWM senior Chad Dombrowski found the back of the net for the first goal of the game and eventual match-winner. The goal, which was set up by a long-range pass from defender Khaled El-Ahmad, was a low line drive that flew by Barrie's right side. The assist was the firstt of the season for El-Ahmad while Dombrowski notched his fifth goal of the year.

The Panthers second goal of the night was a historic one, as the high-flying Antou Jallow found the net for the 19th time this season. With 19 goals on the year, Jallow is now tied with Milan Stojsavljevic for the top spot on the UWM single-season goals list. The marker, which came at the 62:43 mark, was set up by some sweet footwork and passing from unheralded midfielder Trent Furtsch.

"This is a very pleasing win to finish off the season. Another undefeated season in conference and only two goals allowed is impressive," Bennett noted. "We've only given up 10 goals all season and that is something we wanted to do. Today's game was a fitting end to a very, very, very productive regular season."

Milwaukee will enjoy more than a week off before playing again as the first round of the Horizon League Tournament begins next Saturday (Nov. 9). As the No. 1 seed UWM will host No. 8 seed Loyola University Saturday at noon at Englemann Field. If the Panthers win the Loyola contest they will host the semifinals and finals of the tournament on Friday (Nov. 15) and Sunday (Nov. 17), respectively.