Oct. 16, 2003

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The old saying says "statistics don't lie". However, don't tell the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team that after it played the University of Illinois-Chicago to a 2-2 tie here Thursday (Oct. 16), despite dominating the overall stat sheet. The Panthers outshot UIC 22-9 and took a season-high 19 corner kicks to zero for the visitors but could not take advantage as the two teams played to a draw. While the Panthers kept their 21 game Horizon League unbeaten streak alive, their 19-match winning streak was stopped by the visiting Flames. Milwaukee remains in first place in the league with a 10-4-1 overall record and 4-0-1 league mark while UIC sits at 6-4-4 and 0-2-2.

"Yeah, we dominated the stat sheet but we destroyed ourselves on three different plays which led to both of their goals," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "We complicated our defensive situations and anytime you do that you are going to get in trouble. UIC is a good enough to team to make you pay for that and they did."

Milwaukee took an early 1-0 thanks in large part to an error by Flames goal-keeper Ross Cain. Cain, despite little pressure from UWM, handled the ball outside of his penalty box. This led to a direct free kick for Bobby Lish, who delivered his team leading seventh goal of the year. However, UIC tied the game less than three minutes later when Khaled El-Ahmad fouled UIC's John DeVae in the penalty area. Flames' leading-scorer Dennis King then tied the game when he drilled the ensuing penalty kick. The two teams then went into halftime tied at one.

The Panthers dominated play right out of the gates in the second half and continually pressured the UIC defense. Milwaukee appeared fresh starting the second half thanks in large part to spirited play from reserves Cliff Ellsworth, Steve Sperl, and Craig Mallace. Ellsworth and Sperl's play paid immediate dividends as the duo combined to give UWM a 2-1 lead in the 52nd minute. Ellsworth received the ball at midfield, tapped it once, and then blew by a UIC defender. The junior ran the ball down in the corner and played a centering pass where Sperl ran under it and volleyed it home.

UWM continued to pepper the UIC goal with shot after shot and corner kick after corner kick but to no avail. Milwaukee had 13 corner kick in the second half alone, in addition to 13 shots to UIC's one. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the Flames capitalized on one of two second half shots to tie the game in the 67th minute. DeVae started the play with nifty ball handling on the right flank where he then found a streaking Pete Kelley. Kelley then took the DeVae pass and drilled a left footed shot for the equalizer.

With both teams seemingly out of gas, there were very few scoring chances in the two overtime periods. Both teams took three shots in the extra 20 minutes with the Panthers notching three corner kicks in the first overtime.

"We just couldn't put the ball in the net," Bennett said. "Anytime we come away from Engelmann Field with anything but a win it feels like a loss. We just have to take a look at the personnel and find someone who can finish all of those scoring chances."

The Panthers, who play an exhibition match with the Alumni Saturday (Oct. 18), next return to regular season play on Wednesday (Oct. 22). UWM will head north on I-43 to face UW-Green Bay in a 7:00 p.m. Horizon League showdown.