Oct. 31, 2005

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MILWAUKEE - Junior Dale Weiler made a triumphant return to the soccer field for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team on Monday night, helping the Panthers (10-4-4) to a 4-0 victory over cross-town rival Marquette (5-11-1) at Valley Fields. The victory allows UWM to maintain possession of the traveling trophy in the 33rd installment of the Milwaukee Cup.

The Panthers ended the regular season on a high note, tying their season-high with four goals. Senior Neil Dombrowski contributed a goal and two assists, while Weiler also had an assist in the match to go with his scoring strike.

"It was a great game for us," Milwaukee head coach Louis Bennett said. "We didn't want the Milwaukee Cup to leave the east side of the city and we succeeded in that."

Weiler, who missed the last five weeks of the regular season with a knee injury, made an immediate impact to the UWM offense. He scored the eventual game-winner in just the eighth minute, tallying his second goal of the season on a 17-yard blast to the far post off a crossing pass from sophomore Dan Horst.

"It was just more adrenaline than anything," Weiler said. "I knew I was only going to be playing half of the game, so I went out thinking that I would go as hard as I could for the first ten minutes."

Up 2-0 at halftime, the Panthers came charging out in the second half to double their advantage. They scored two goals in a span of one-minute, seventeen-seconds on the clock to make it 4-0 at the 53:40 mark of the game.

At the 52:23 mark, Weiler started the first scoring play on a corner kick. Junior Billy Meier chested the ball to the ground in front of the goal mouth and Neil Dombrowski was there to clean up the action for his ninth goal of the season.

Just 1:17 later, Dombrowski nearly had his second-straight goal. A Marquette foul set Milwaukee up for a set piece opportunity just outside the 18-yard box at the left endline. Dombrowski sent the free kick on goal, where it was deflected by Golden Eagle goalkeeper Andy Kroll back out in front. Sophomore Steve Bode then finished the chance with his fifth goal of the season.

The Panthers dominated play in the second half, ensuring the squad their 10th win of the season and keeping the Milwaukee Cup in their possession.

"We cleared the bench and used everyone," Bennett said. "They [Marquette] were an injured bird at half and when we put the third goal in, they weren't coming back from that."

Despite getting outshot nine to seven in the first half, UWM was very opportunistic on their chances and converted on two of their four shots on goal.

In addition to Weiler's goal in the eighth minute, Milwaukee also scored in the 35th minute. Freshman Colin Baker netted his first collegiate goal at that point, cleaning up Neil Dombrowski's 25-yard free kick with a five-yard poke past Marquette starter Steven Grow.

Freshman goalkeeper Grant Fernstrum made five saves to record his sixth shutout of the season. He needed a diving save on a shot by the Golden Eagles Dan Addis on a breakaway with three minutes left to preserve the shutout. The six clean sheets ties the UWM record for most in a season by a freshman. Fernstrum lowered his goals against average on the season to 0.50 in the process.

Thanks to an eight to five advantage in the second half, UWM ended up with the 15-14 edge in shots in the game, including 10 to five in shots on goal. The Panthers were whistled for 19 of the 34 fouls in the match and forced three corner kicks to Marquette's four.

Milwaukee will now have five days off to prepare for the defense of their Horizon League Tournament title. As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, they will host No. 7 Butler on Saturday. The league quarterfinal will start at noon at Engelmann Field.