Sept. 18, 2011

Box Score | Photo Gallery | Live Blog

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB's Mladen Lemez headed home the game-winning goal in overtime to send the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team to a heartbreaking 2-1 loss Sunday afternoon in the final game of the "Soccer for a Cure" Classic.

"It's a difficult one to swallow today," UWM head coach Chris Whalley said. "I think we actually played very well - UAB is unbeaten and a regionally-ranked team. It was a very intimidating place to play and, up until 86 minutes, we had the game and played it close to perfectly."

Just as on Friday, the Panthers (3-4-0) again led in the final minutes by a score of 1-0. Lemez narrowly helped the Blazers (5-0-2) remain unbeaten on the season when he scored the equalizer very late in regulation off a long throw in at the 85:57 mark.

"They've got some big, strong guys and they got us on two set pieces," Whalley said. "Unfortunately, that's the way it went down. It was the third time in a row that we lost 2-1 and third time in a row it's been a heartbreaker - two in overtime and one, obviously, in the last minute. I'm not too disappointed today because we played a lot better than we did on Friday and I think the guys showed some real character."

The result spoiled a brilliant performance by junior goalkeeper John Shakon, who set a career-high with 10 saves. One of those set the stage for the final goal when Shakon made a stop of a close-range blast - appearing to knock the wind out of him and bringing a stoppage in play for a visit from the athletic trainer - before going out of bounds for the decisive corner kick that followed.

"John started off a bit shaky," Whalley said. "But he took some very good crosses, he kicked well, he organized and that was very important. They are a very direct team that is very good on set pieces and a lot of long throws. He did a nice job. It was pleasing, the whole back four played well, which is what you need to do when you go to a hostile environment like we did today."

Freshman Gerardo Saavedra looked to have tallied the game-winner on a penalty kick early in the second half. He netted his fourth goal of the season just seconds after intermission, sending a penalty kick low and to the left that the UAB goalkeeper never had a chance on at the 45:20 mark.

Senior Keegan Ziada helped create the strike, feeding freshman Nick Langford with a long serve to the right wing of the penalty area. Langford took a couple of touches to get open and was fouled by the UAB defender a few feet into the penalty area.

Ziada also had a chance to make it 2-0, but his close-range shot at the post was blocked by the goalkeeper and his next shot across the front of the goal went off the far post in the 58th minute.

Shakon topped his former career-best of nine saves set as a freshman against Cal State Northridge, including a stop early in the overtime session from close range.

Earlier, with UWM up 1-0 at the time, he recorded back-to-back saves on Babayele Sodade, making tough stops in the 51st and 55th minutes on quality UAB chances. In the 66th, Shakon made a diving stop of a 25-yard free kick that blasted through the wall.

Freshman Adam Hutchinson made a decisive play in the 48th minute, keeping UAB from the equalizer when he was credited with a team save by clearing Diego Navarrete's volley off the line when it was headed to the far post.

Scoreless at the half, Milwaukee held the 6-to-5 advantage in shots but failed to put any of them on net. Shakon made three saves before intermission, including a pair of brilliant stops.

In the 13th minute, UAB's Moses Adeniran took a give-and-go feed and tried to chip the near post. Shakon made a diving stop and grabbed the ball with an outstretched arm. He also made an impressive looking save early in the seventh minute, sprinting off his line to block the breakaway attempt of Sodade.

The Panthers put together stretches of quality possession, earning them a fair amount of decent looks on the goal in the first 45 minutes of play. Langford ended the half with three of the team's six attempts.

For the game, UAB had the 20-to-12 advantage in shots, including 13-to-3 in shots on goal. Ziada and Langford each had three shots to pace the Panthers. After a 5-to-0 edge in corners at half, Milwaukee saw UAB take the final eight corner kicks of the contest

Following the game, Langford and Hutchinson were named to the all-tournament team.

Milwaukee has the week off to prepare for the start of Horizon League play, heading to defending league champion Butler next Saturday for a 4 p.m. CST showdown.