Sept. 7, 2002

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team overcame a rather inauspicous start here Saturday (September 7) in defeating DePaul University 3-1 in the opening round of the 30th annual Coca-Cola Panther Invitational. With the win, UWM improves to 1-1-1 on the season while the Blue Demons of DePaul fall to 0-2-1.

The Panthers came out of the gates fired up in their 2002 home opener but the mood quickly soured when UWM's Evan Richardson scored an own goal for the visitors, giving DU a 1-0 lead just 1:42 into the contest. Richardson attempted to tap the ball back to goalkeeper Brad Swenby but misconnected and the ball found the back of the net.

Unfortunately for DePaul, that was the last positive action they would see on the day as UWM took over the game from that point on. Richardson took little time in saving face as he drilled home a five-yard rebound off of his original miss to knot the game at one at the 18:41 mark. The goal was the first of the season for the senior defender and only the second of his career.

The Panthers took the lead for good at the 42:30 mark when Neil Dombrowski took a volley and beat DU goalkeeper Michael Timlin to the left. The Panthers finally found the back of the net after creating numerous chances in the first half. Milwaukee outshot DePaul 11-1 in the first half while registering six corner kicks to the Demons zero.

"It wasn't a game with a lot of flow and it was hard to get much of a rhythm going early on," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "However, I'm not going to scoff at a win. As they say, a win is a win."

It was much of the same for the two teams in the second ninety minutes as UWM continued to control the tempo in the sunny, 85 degree heat. The Panthers tripled DePaul's second half shot production, six to two, while again holding the Chicago-natives to zero corner kicks on the half. Milwaukee basically put the game away at the 67:45 mark when sophomore Antou Jallow tapped home his second goal of the season to provide the final 3-1 margin. Jallow scored the goal after a nifty pass from Julian Chang as the combo hooked up for the second time in as many contests.

"There were times when Julian showed flashes of what he can do," Bennett added. "The bottom line in this game is to make chances and score in those chances and today we did that for the most part."

Both teams will be back in action on Sunday (September 8) in the second day of the Panther Invitational. DePaul will face the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at noon in what will be the consolation match while UWM takes on Western Illinois University at 2 p.m. in the championship game. WIU defeated UWGB 3-0 in Saturday's opening match to setup the showdown with the hosts.