Nov. 22, 2003

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee played one of its best games of the season here Saturday (Nov. 22) en route to a 4-1 win over Western Michigan University in the first round of NCAA Tournament play. The Panthers (16-5-1) scored the first two goals of the game and never looked back in advancing to the NCAA Second Round for the second consecutive season. With the loss, Western Michigan ends is season with a school-best 12-7-2 record.

"We have a lot of players with NCAA experience so I think that helped a lot today," UWM striker Antou Jallow said. "But, in addition to that, we just try to keep things simple. We try not to do to much and just let the game come to us and we did that today."

The game started out in interesting fashion as both teams had players red carded in the first ten minutes. UWM appeared to be in trouble early when starting goalkeeper Kirk Thode received a red card at the 8:24 mark after he stopped a WMU breakaway with a hard tackle outside of the penalty box. Thode was then replaced in goal by freshman Eric Mickschl while defender Adam Gehrt was sent off to give the Broncos the man-advantage.

Despite the player disadvantage, UWM appeared to be the aggressor in the next few minutes. The Panthers had a sure goal denied when Tighe Dombrowski's header was stopped by WMU defender Ryan Goldman. However, the referees ruled Goldman handled the ball intentionally at the far post which led to his red card and a Panther penalty kick. Milwaukee's Bobby Lish calmly delivered on his fourth penalty kick of the year and second in two games to give UWM the 1-0 edge with just 9:57 gone in the game.

With both teams playing with 10 players, the game opened up a bit the remainder of the half. Milwaukee took a two-goal cushion in the 30th minute when Antou Jallow scored his tenth goal of the year. Junior forward Cliff Ellsworth started the play with a back heel pass to midfielder Chris Brisson. Brisson then sent a line drive crossing pass towards the goal where a flying Jallow headed it home at the far post. Western Michigan struck back in the 41st minute and cut the lead in half on a nice individual effort by Jeff Hughes. Hughes received the ball near midfield and beat three Panther defenders en route to his 16th goal of the season.

The Panthers came out firing to start the second half and quickly put the game away. Tighe Dombrowski made the score 3-1 when he chipped home a 30-yard shot in the 55th minute. Milwaukee made it 4-1 less than seven minutes later when the high-powered offense struck again. Jallow started the play by taking a long pass and then sneaking behind the Bronco defense. The junior held the ball, drew out the WMU keeper before sliding a pass to the streaking Ellsworth. Ellsworth collected the ball and rifled it home for his third goal of the season and fifth point in two games.

Western Michigan was able to muster very few scoring chances the remainder of the game as Milwaukee was able to milk the clock for its 16th win of the year. The Panthers outshot WMU 18-11 on the game while doubling up on corner kicks, eight to four. Eric Mickschl earned his third win of the season in relief of Thode, stopping three shots in the process. Mickschl will earn his third start of the season in the second round game as Thode will be forced to sit out due to the red card violation.

"This was a great game played with competitive and positive spirit," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "It really was a great spectacle of college soccer. Everyone who paid to watch this game was treated to a quality game on both sides."

UWM will head to South Bend, Ind. to face No. 3 University of Notre Dame on Wednesday (Nov. 26). The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. at Alumni Field.