Oct. 25, 2008

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Matt Spies scored the only goal of the game in the 56th minute to send No. 16 University of Illinois at Chicago to a 1-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team Saturday night at Engelmann Field. The Panthers (4-8-5, 1-4-2 Horizon) had a couple of chances late to send the game to overtime, but the nationally-ranked Flames (10-2-4, 4-1-1 Horizon), who climbed to as high as No. 4 earlier this season, held on to record the victory.

"I think tonight shows that we can play with anybody," UWM head coach Jon Coleman said. "We had a good game plan coming into the game, the guys executed the plan, and we were right in the situation we wanted to be. We conceded an unfortunate goal but still pressed and got forward. I think it was definitely a game we could have won; we just need to take better care of the finer details. The end product of what we do needs to be better."

The only goal came at the 55:48 mark when Spiess was in the right place at the right time to net his fourth goal of the season. The Flames had the ball on the wing before losing possession. The UWM back line tried to clear it, but, unfortunately, the ball went right to Spiess who was waiting by himself at the top of the 18-yard box. He settled the ball and sent it to the far post for the game-winner.

"It was a difficult goal to come up," Coleman said. "I thought it was a ball that we could have cleared that ended up popping up to them - they took advantage of it and scored. I thought we had better chances down the stretch, but again, we were not able to find the back of the net. To win games, we are going to have to score goals - someone is going to have to step up and do it."

Milwaukee outshot UIC by a 5-to-3 count in the second half, including each of the final four attempts of the match in the last 15 minutes.

Sophomore Robert Refai got free off a long feed from freshman Tony Maxey, but his shot from inside the 18-yard box in the 78th minute dribbled just left of the post.

Freshman Eric Frazier had an attempt in the 88th minute after taking another Maxey pass as the top of the box, but could not get enough on it to get past Flame goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja. Freshman Ross Van Osdol stole a pass from the UIC back line in the 84th minute, only to see his shot from about 25 yards out sail over the cross bar.

"It's difficult because I thought we managed the game really well," Coleman said. "I thought the guys stayed focused and concentrated on managing the game. I thought we put ourselves in position to win the game and, if anything, to tie it at the end and further the match on."

UWM came out firing, putting three shots on goal in the first 7:15 of the game. Senior goalkeeper Ryan Germann made a couple of quality saves as well, stopping a rocket off the foot of Baggio Husidic in the second minute and then on a close-range attempt from Charlie Trout at the 3:36 mark as well.

For the game, UIC held a 12-to-10 advantage in shots, with Milwaukee putting more on goal (5-to-4). The Flames forced three corner kicks to one for the Panthers, while UWM was whistled for 15 of the 26 fouls in the match. Bubonja, an All-American in net a season ago, was credited with five saves for the 30th shutout of his career. Germann made three stops in defeat.

Milwaukee closes out the regular season schedule with one final home game, hosting Wright State in the annual "Senior Night" match Friday at 7 p.m. Grant Fernstrum, Ryan Germann, Travis Phillips and Adam Skalecki will all be honored in a pregame ceremony.