Oct. 5, 2008

Box Score

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Slava Ubiparipovic scored the game-winning goal in overtime to help Cleveland State University escape with a 2-1 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team Sunday afternoon at Krenzler Field. The Panthers (3-4-4, 0-2-2 Horizon) held a 1-0 advantage for most of the game, not allowing a goal to the Vikings (3-6-2, 2-2-0 Horizon) until a late penalty kick in the 80th minute helped send the match to overtime.

"It was a disappointing loss because I felt we had control of the game," UWM head coach Jon Coleman said, "We made a couple of bad choices down the stretch that gave Cleveland some hope and they took advantage of it."

The game-winner came on a 20-yard free kick, set up after a foul was whistled on Milwaukee just outside the 18-yard box. Ubiparipovic bent the ball over the wall and into the upper-90 of the right side of the goal, giving the Vikings the victory at the 94:29 mark.

UWM did have one shot attempt in the extra period, but sophomore Robert Refai's attempt in the 93rd minute went just wide.

"We have to put this behind us and move forward," Coleman said. "We have the second half of conference play to look forward to. We can win out on those and be right in a position to make a run for it. We're going to become smarter, we're going to become wiser ... this will help us down the stretch."

UWM was up 1-0 and had control of the game throughout. That changed in the 80th minute, when senior goalkeeper Grant Fernstrum was called for a foul in the box when he came charging out to make a play on a long thru ball that was heading out of bounds.

Mitch Boyer took the kick, netting the equalizing goal at the 79:33 mark.

The Panthers used a nice build-up to score their first goal, going ahead 1-0 at the 35:18 mark. Refai dribbled the ball up the right sideline before sending a cross into the box. Freshman Eric Frazier one-touched the ball back to the near post, finding freshman Evan Bartzis. Bartzis then quickly settled the ball and beat the keeper to the near post for his third goal of the season.

The Milwaukee defense played a crucial role in keeping the Vikings off the scoreboard in the first half. In addition to four saves from Fernstrum, the squad was also credited with two team saves.

In the 10th minute, Stephen Byer was able to get open for a break on the UWM goal. Fernstrum came off his line to challenge and made the initial save, but the rebound went right back to Byer. He fired again, but freshman Tony Maxey was able to clear the ball from finding the back of the net.

About 15 minutes later, CSU nearly turned a corner kick into a score as well. After a scrum in front of the goal following the initial kick, senior Adam Skalecki was in the right place to the right time to kick the ball away at the far post.

UWM had a chance to get on the board early, but Skalecki had his close-range blast saved in the fifth minute.

For the match, Cleveland State outshot UWM, 16-to-12, including a 9-to-4 advantage in shots on goal. It also held the corner kick advantage, 5-to-3, while Milwaukee was whistled for 14 of the 27 fouls in the game. Fernstrum finished with five saves and CSU's Nick Harpel had three.

The loss was the first for Milwaukee against CSU since 1989, snapping what was a 18-game winning streak for the Panthers in the series.

Milwaukee stays on the road for one more game, heading to Madison for their annual match-up with the Badgers on Wednesday. Then, it welcomes Green Bay to Engelmann Field Saturday night for the annual Chancellor's Cup showdown with the Phoenix. Both games have 7 p.m. start times.