Sept. 14, 2012

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Freshman Stuart McBain scored in the 33rd minute and senior goalkeeper John Shakon made four saves to help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team record a 1-0 shutout of Northern Illinois University Friday afternoon in game one of the Lakeside Classic in Evanston, Ill.

The Panthers (4-2-0) retain possession of the LeWang Trophy with the victory over the Huskies (0-3-2), a decision that also gives UWM four wins after six games for the first time since 2002 (4-1-1).

"It's nice to win a trophy and have it sit behind me in the office," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "But, more importantly, I feel really good about the performance from the guys today. I think it's the closest we have come to having a complete game this year. We have been preaching to everybody that we are trying to get better every day and today, we got better."

The shutout was the 13th of Shakon's career, moving into a tie for seventh on the all-time list. He preserved the win with those four saves on the day, including a pair of impressive stops on 20-yard NIU free kicks in both the 69th and 86th minutes.

"The guys were very disciplined in the back," Kelderman said, "They had a couple of individuals that were their key pieces to the puzzle and we had to make special note of them and keep track of them during the game. Defensively, we worked hard as a team. We helped each other out and we created some chances. We had one goal and thought we should have had a couple more."

McBain scored for the second time in his two UWM appearances, netting the difference-maker at the 32:52 mark.

Sophomore Laurie Bell started the play with a corner kick, finding junior Riley Weiner near the top of the box. He chested the ball forward to the feet of McBain, who's attempt was headed towards the goal before deflecting off a backline defender and easily past the NIU goalkeeper.

Milwaukee looked to tack on another goal on several occasions, but could never break through. Junior Robbie Boyd had a pair of decent chances, including a breakaway attempt from the top of the box in the 79th minute that was saved nicely.

Sophomore Kyle Neumann nearly had a goal as well, but NIU keeper Jordan Godsey made a nice save at the post in the 74th minute after a connecting pass from freshman Aaron Horvat.

The first half did not feature much in the offensive third for either team, with UWM scoring on its only real threat of the first 45 minutes. When the buzzer sounded, it held a slim 6-to-4 advantage in shots in a defensive-minded contest.

Shakon made a nice save in the 21st minute, running off his line to send away a breakaway chance by NU's Karim Darbaki.

Northern Illinois did end up with an advantage of 15-to-14 in shots, but UWM posted a slim 6-to-4 edge in shots on goal. NIU had eight of the 12 corner kicks, with each team receiving four yellow cards apiece.

Bell's assist on McBain's goal gave him a team-high nine points on the season and a goal or assist in the past five games in a row. The last UWM player to record a point in five consecutive games was Zeke Dombrowski in 2007. Bell led the team on the afternoon with six shots.

Milwaukee returns to Evanston Sunday for its final game in the Lakeside Classic. It takes on host Northwestern, a team ranked as high as No. 18 in the national polls. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.