Oct. 10, 2012

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. - Freshman goalkeeper Connor Revsbeck made his first collegiate start a memorable one, recording five saves to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over the University of Wisconsin Wednesday night at the McClimon Soccer Complex.

"It's an exciting result - playing Wisconsin at Wisconsin, it's an in-state rivalry, obviously, and it was a great result," UWM head coach Kris Kelderman said. "I am happy for the guys. They fought hard. They've played a lot of minutes in a short amount of time and we got a nice result today."

Senior Jamie Bladen scored the only goal of the game for the Panthers (6-4-2), netting the eventual game-winner for the second-straight contest in the 50th minute against the host Badgers (3-6-3).

"At the end of the day, Wisconsin had some really good chances," Kelderman said. "I am not afraid to admit that. I'm proud of the guys, I am proud of the effort. There were spurts where we played well and some spurts where we didn't play very well. We kind of squeaked one out and we are enthused about the result."

Revsbeck, starting for the injured John Shakon, came up with a couple of spectacular stops to keep the clean sheet intact.

The one that loomed the largest came in the 71st minute. Wisconsin had the ball on the wing and sent it into the box. The ball was flicked to Nick Janus in the middle, who volleyed the ball on net. Revsbeck was moving to his right and managed to get a foot on it to keep it from being the equalizer.

"He came up a couple of times real big," Kelderman said. "I don't know what his intentions were, but he was in the right place at the right time and there is something to say about that."

The Badgers then hit the post in the 74th minute but the Panthers defense held tough and closed out the game, the third shutout of the season and the first win over Wisconsin since the 2005 campaign.

In the 49th minute and with the game still scoreless, Revsbeck also made an outstanding save on a close-range header off a corner kick.

Bladen accounted for the game-winning goal once again, finishing nicely at the 49:56 mark to give UWM the much-needed momentum. Sophomore Laurie Bell started the scoring play, sending a free kick from near midfield into the penalty area. After the ball went off a defender, Bladen used his outside foot to sneak it in at the near post.

"He handled that really well, like he's a born forward," Kelderman said. "It was a very nice goal."

His goal actually snapped what had been a scoreless stretch of 451:19 for UWM in the series.

The game was scoreless at the half and did not feature much offense either way. The defensive battle saw just seven total shots before intermission and only three on goal.

Bell had the best chance of either team in the first. Freshman Aaron Horvat sent a floating pass to Bell, who one-timed it to the near post from close range. Only a spectacular stop kept it from going in.

The Panthers claimed the win despite UW advantages of 13-to-7 in shots and 5-to-3 in shots on goal. UWM did have five of the seven corner kicks and the majority of the Badger shots came in the final 15 minutes when UWM was trying to close out the game.

The Panthers are back at home next Tuesday to host Nebraska-Omaha. That game is set for a 3 p.m. start at Engelmann Stadium.