Nov. 11, 2005

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

DETROIT, Mich. - Sophomore Andre Francois scored just four-minutes, eight-seconds into the contest, propelling the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team into the Horizon League Tournament Championship with a 1-0 victory over UW-Green Bay at Titan Field on Friday. The Panthers (12-4-4) avenged an earlier defeat in the regular season to the Phoenix (9-10-0) with the win and advanced to the tournament finals for the fifth-consecutive year.

The only goal of the game came in the fifth minute. Junior Steve Sperl battled a UWGB defender for a long ball just outside the 18-yard box, redirecting the ball to the top of the penalty area where Francois was streaking in through traffic. Francois sent a rocket on goal, sliding the game-winner inside the far left post.

"It is sweet revenge when you can get beat by a team in the regular season and then come back and beat them in the conference tournament," Milwaukee head coach Louis Bennett said. "This was a fantastic start to the weekend ... we can really build from this. When you get to this time of the year, you have to take each match for it's own merit and have to win game by game."

The defense did the rest, posting their third-consecutive shutout and tenth on the season. Freshman goalkeeper Grant Fernstrum ran his scoreless streak to 270 minutes and lowered his goals against average to just 0.43 on the season with five saves.

"Fernstrum did what was expected of him today," Bennett said. "You also have to give credit to Steve Bode and Kyle Zenoni. Bode held things together out there and Zenoni was a quiet leader."

The Panthers missed a few opportunities to add an insurance marker in the second half. Junior Dale Weiler sent a shot on goal from inside the six-yard box following a free kick in the 78th minute, but the attempt was saved by Green Bay's Adam Stikl.

Junior Craig Mallace also just missed finding the back of the net, sending a 20-yard blast off the crossbar in the 68th minute. Freshman Travis Phillips started the play with a long throw-in to senior Neil Dombrowski in the box. Dombrowski flicked the ball to Mallace at the top of the box who rifled one off the bar.

UWGB had the 12 to seven edge in shots in the game, but only a few of them proved dangerous. In the 75th minute, Green Bay's Joshua Okoampa sent one off the crossbar. Fernstrum came off his line to challenge the ball, but Okoampa chipped one over him but failed to find the net.

"The shot count had no major reflection on the game," Bennett said. "A lot of their shots were from long range. The closest threats came from Okoampa, who is always a difficult guy to handle."

Milwaukee's defense was aggressive and physical all day, not allowing the Phoenix forwards to put together quality scoring opportunities.

One of the few times that they did get past the defense, Fernstrum was there to compensate. At the 22-minute mark of the first half, Okoampa got behind the Panther backline on a breakaway off a throw-in. He came in from the left flank in a one-on-one situation with Fernstrum, but had his blast from 15-yards out stopped by the UWM keeper.

The Panthers were credited with just two shots in the first half, scoring on one of them. It looked like UWM had taken a 2-0 lead just before halftime, but sophomore Troy Spielmann's apparent goal came just after Milwaukee was flagged for offsides and it remained 1-0 on the scoreboard.

UWM was whistled for 22 of the 36 fouls in the game and had two corner kicks to just one for UWGB. Stickl ended with four saves in defeat for the Phoenix.

Milwaukee will play Detroit in the championship game on Sunday. The host Titans defeated Wright State 2-1 in the second game of the day. The match will give UWM the opportunity to avenge their other league loss of the season, as Detroit won 2-1 Oct. 2 when these two teams met in the regular season.

The winner of Sunday's game, scheduled for a 1 p.m. EST start, will advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers will be in search of their fifth-straight invitation to the event.