Nov. 9, 2002
Box Score
A season of record-breaking performances continued for the No. 8 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team as the Panthers posted a 2-0 victory over Loyola University in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament here Saturday (Nov. 9). Horizon League Player of the Year Antou Jallow broke UWM's single-season goal record with the first tally of the game as the Panthers won their school-best 16th straight game to improve to 16-1-1. Meanwhile, LUC dropped its 16th straight to end the season with a 3-16-0 overall mark.
In a game marred by physical play and 36 overall fouls, the No. 1 seeded Panthers scored early in the game en route to their fifth straight shutout. Milwaukee outshot the No. 8 seed Ramblers 16 to three on the game and held Loyola without a single shot on goal all day long. Despite not facing a single shot, goalkeeper Chris Dadaian posted his ninth shutout of the season and 21st of his career, the most in school history.
"It was a pretty businesslike performance on our part," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "Sometimes when ya go to work in the morning it takes you a while to get going and I think that happened a bit with us today. However it is nice to know that you can play very average soccer and still win a game easily like we did today."
Jallow's record-setting goal in the fifth minute proved to be the game-winner for UWM, who currently boast the nation's longest winning streak. The Swedish sophomore corraled a loose ball inside the penalty box and rifled it past Rambler keeper Gret Stellatos for his 20th goal of the year. Jallow is currently third in the nation in goals per game and fourth in the country in points per game.
"It was a goal to win the game and that is the most important thing right now," Jallow said. "But it is fun to score goals and break records but I don't worry about that. Maybe it's something I will think about at the end of the season."
Milwaukee put the game away early in the second half thanks to a fantastic finish by First-Team All-League performer Tighe Dombrowski. The junior midfielder skied high above the LU defense and headed home a perfect crossing pass off the foot of Trent Furtsch. Both Furtsch and sophomore Cliff Ellsworth were credited with assists on Dombrowski's third goal of the year.
With the win, UWM advances to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament which will be held Friday (Nov. 15) at Engelmann Field. The Panthers, as the hosts and No. 1 seed, will play No. 5 seed Butler at 1:30 p.m. That game will follow the first semifinal which will start at 11 a.m. The two semifinal winners will face off in the tourney championship game, set for Sunday (Nov. 17) at noon at Engelmann Field.
