Nov. 14, 2003

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee got offensive production from four different forwards en route to an easy 3-0 win over Wright State University in the semifinals of the 2003 Horizon League Men's Soccer Tournament here Friday (Nov. 14). Milwaukee (14-5-1) will now play Butler (12-6-1), a 3-2 overtime winner in the semifinal, on Sunday (Nov. 16) for the tournament title and the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. With the loss, Wright State's season ends with a 10-10-0 mark.

"We have a lot of options on offense and, regardless of who's in there, we are still a dangerous team," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "We've been holding people accountable for their play and guys have really stepped it up a bit."

The two teams played relatively even soccer in the first half with both teams registering five shots and three shots on goal. However, the home team and No. 1 seeded Panthers scored the only goal of the half on a nifty combination in the 18th minute. Forward Kyle Lance freed himself after some nifty moves and played a long crossing pass to the far post. The ball found fellow forward Bobby Lish who headed a shot home past WSU keeper Jason Balach. The goal was the only score of the half as UWM went into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee put the game out of reach just seconds into the second half when Lish made it 2-0 on his second goal of the game. The play started when WSU's Stirlin Rivers fouled UWM's Tighe Dombrowski just outside of the penalty box. Dombrowski then played a free kick into the box near a group of players. The Panthers Cliff Ellsworth struck a diving header which was stopped by Balach. However, Lish was standing at the far post, corralled the ball, and drilled it home for his second score of the game.

With the Raiders down 2-0 and pressing forward on offense, the game became a spirited and physical affair. However, UWM was able to play through some of the extra cirricular activities to push its lead to 3-0 in the 65th minute. The speedy Ellsworth took a long pass and beat a Wright State defender down the center of the field. The Mequon-native then played a ball to Antou Jallow who hammered home a left-footed shot from eight yards out for his ninth goal of the season.

Wright State committed 21 fouls on the match to 11 for UWM, in addition to a combined nine yellow cards on the two teams. One of the yellow cards proved costly to the Panthers as senior midfielder Tighe Dombrowski will be forced to sit out Sunday's title game due to the accumulation of his eighth caution of the season.

"I think we are definitely ready for the championship game on Sunday," Ellsworth said. "I think some teams peak at the right time and I think we are one of those teams right now. Butler is a very good team and it should be a battle. It will hurt to not have Tighe out there but we have enough players to step up and get the job done."

Sunday's showdown between UWM and Butler is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. at Engelmann Field. Milwaukee won last season's tournament with an 8-0 victory over Cleveland State while BU claimed the 2001 championship with a 2-0 win over UWM in Milwaukee.