Sept. 26, 2003

Box Score

CLEVELAND, OHIO - The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee men's soccer team began defense of its back-to-back Horizon League Championships with a 4-2 victory over Cleveland State University here Friday (Sept. 26). The win was the third straight for UWM, now 6-3 overall and 1-0 in the league, but it also marks the school's 13th consecutive victory over CSU. The loss moves the Vikings to 6-4 overall and 2-1 in the league while knocking them out of first place in the league standings.

Much like last year's contests, which saw UWM post victories of 7-0 and then 8-0 in the Horizon League Tournament championship, the Panthers dominated the stat sheet en route to the victory. Milwaukee outshot CSU 18-10 on the match while registering 14 shots on goal and ten corner kicks to five and two, respectively, for the hosts.

"This is a very difficult to play but our guys came in here and played very well tonight," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "We gave up two penalty kicks but nothing else after that. Our offense really seemed to click and we have some guys like Antou Jallow returning to their form of old."

Milwaukee got on the board first, thanks to Tighe Dombrowski's team-high tying fifth goal of the season. The senior midfielder took an Antou Jallow pass and drove home a 12-yard pass for the 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. Kyle Zenoni gave the Panthers a two-goal cushion at the 33:57 mark when he curled home a corner kick. CSU cut the lead in half, at 2-1, when David Carmichael found the back of the net on a penalty kick. However, UWM basically put the game away in the final minute of the half when Cliff Ellsworth corralled a loose ball and found the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

UWM grabbed another three-goal lead midway through the second half when Jallow scored his third goal of the season. The junior All-America candidate found the back of the net thanks to an assist from leading scorer, Bobby Lish. The 4-1 cushion held until the 85th minute when CSU's Benny Eck scored on a penalty kick for the eventual final score.

"Cliff's goal late in the second half was huge for us," added Bennett. "We really got some people to do some of the dirty work and they got it done. Through team victories comes individual glory and I think we are starting to find that out. This was a nice result for us to open Horizon League play."

Junior netminder Kirk Thode stopped three shots en route to his fourth win of the season and third consecutive. In addition, the UWM defense held the nation's leading scorer, Stephen Ademolu scoreless on the game. Ademolu, who entered the game with 19 points and eight goals in seven games, has yet to score in three career games versus Milwaukee.

The Panthers return home for the first time in nearly a month to take on the University of Detroit-Mercy on Sunday (Sept. 28). The Horizon League contest is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. at Engelmann Field.