Oct. 22, 2011

Box Score

VALPARAISO, Ind. - Kyle Zobeck recorded his school-record eighth shutout of the season to help Valparaiso University to a 2-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team Saturday night at Brown Field.

The Panthers (5-7-2, 2-2-2 Horizon League) brought the league's top-ranked offense into the match, but were held scoreless by the Crusaders (7-5-3, 3-0-1 Horizon League) for the first time in the 2011 season.

"They defended very well," Milwaukee head coach Chris Whalley said. "They are a hard-working team and Mike (Avery) has them organized. We just didn't play very well tonight. We had some chances in the first half and didn't take them. And then, in the second half, we really didn't pass the ball well enough at all to get our forwards into the game and really didn't create enough."

The Panther offense was out of sync all night and did not threaten the way it had the previous 13 games in 2011. In fact, Valparaiso held Milwaukee without a shot attempt after halftime.

"With the exception of a few, not enough people had good games," Whalley said. "It's difficult to create chances and win games like that. We were poor tonight, it's disappointing."

The game was a significant one in the conference standings. With Cleveland State losing to Green Bay earlier in the night, the winner of the game was going to end up in first place after the weekend of play and UWM was unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

"It means Valpo is the top of the league," Whalley said. "You know, we win our first two games in conference against Green Bay and Butler and then we haven't won a game in conference in four. I think right now we are throwing a great opportunity to be near the top of the league away."

Valpo and Zobeck continued their strong play on defense, recording their third-consecutive shutout. In fact, the Crusaders have now allowed just 12 goals in 15 games on the season.

Junior John Shakon returned to the starting lineup in goal for Milwaukee, but a couple of tough breaks helped Valpo to its pair of second-half goals. The first came on a rebound off the crossbar, with Kevin Miller being in the right place at the right time to break up the scoreless affair in the 61st minute.

"We defended poorly on both goals," Whalley said. "I am not going to point fingers; we just didn't react on the first goal. As it came off the cross bar, we should have stopped it before it even got there. And, on the second goal, it was just poor defending and poor communication through our back four and goalkeeper."

The second came on a 50/50 ball in the 75th minute, with Shakon coming off his line to try and gain possession. He went up for it with Charles Barden, who got enough of a foot in it following a collision to watch it harmlessly and slowly find it's way into the back of the net.

The first half was very physical but did not feature many chances for either team. In fact, it took until the ninth minute for either side to get a shot attempt of any type off when freshman Nick Langford sent one wide.

Valparaiso held the 7-to-6 edge in the half in shots, but did manage to put three of them on frame and just missed a header off a corner kick with what would have been less than 15 seconds remaining in the half. The most dangerous opportunity ended up giving them back-to-back shot attempts and came in the 23rd minute. Todd Vervynckt sent a blast on goal through traffic that Shakon made a terrific diving save on. The ball rebounded back into traffic for another attempt, which was also saved more conventionally by Shakon.

One of the most dangerous chances by the Panthers did not result in a shot on goal, but just missed making it 1-0 by a foot or two. In the 26th minute, a UWM run on goal with passes from junior Cody Banks and senior Keegan Ziada found Langford at the far post. His attempt back at the other side of the goal was past the keeper but rolled just wide.

Next, Milwaukee will be on the field for two home games this week, starting Wednesday with a big match against the Wisconsin Badgers. The game, which will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports 32, will begin at 7 p.m.