MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee men's soccer team was five minutes away from maintaining possession of the LeWang Trophy for the sixth straight season, but an unsuspecting free kick from midfield mixed with some unfortunate luck sent Northern Illinois to a 2-1 victory on a rainy Wednesday night at Engelmann Stadium.
 
Nick Moon scored in the 25^th minute, finally helping the Panthers (2-4-1) capitalize on a large handful of early scoring opportunities. The Huskies (1-4-2) found the equalizer minutes before the half, and stuck around long enough to find a strange ending to take possession of trophy for the first time since 2010.
 
"Obviously, it's frustrating," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "But, we had plenty of chances throughout that game to get the second goal. I thought we got off to a really good start – the first 25 minutes we were playing really well. Connecting passes, creating chances and going up 1-0."
 
Those early opportunities came quickly, but Matthias Binder (7^th minute) and Moon (9^th minute) has consecutive chances saved nicely. It was Moon again in the 19^th minute, appearing to have a goal when he sent a strike to the far post off a pass from Evan Conway – only to see a backline NIU defender clear it off the line.
 
Reid Stevenson forced another first-half save in the 23^rd minute before the Panthers would finally capitalize a few minutes later. Conway picked up the ball and started a counter-attack, finding Francesco Saporito on the run. Saporito carried the ball forward and found Moon streaking down the right wing. Moon went back to the far post and it was 1-0 at the 24:53 mark.
 
The first half was played under a heavy downpour and Northern found a way to get back to even at the 41:42 mark on a goal by Kevin Rodriguez to take some momentum out of the game heading into the locker room.
 
"They hit a great shot to tie it 1-1. Hats off to that youngster who put it right in the corner … that was a great shot," Kelderman said. "I thought we came out in the second half and got better as the half went on. We created some chances in our attack, but today it wasn't good enough."
 
The two regional rivals combined for 11 second-half shots, but 10 of the 11 were off target after having to navigate the slick, wet field. Just when the game appeared to be headed to overtime, Richard Hall sent a free kick from near midfield floating to the far post, where the wet ball somehow found a way through the keeper's hands and across the goal line before it could be controlled. That was the deciding tally, coming at the 84:14 mark.
 
"At the end of the day, it's one play," Kelderman said. "We had 90 minutes for everyone else to make a play or two. It's on all of us. We let that one slip by us."
 
Overall, UWM held shot advantages of 16-to-7 for the game, including 7-to-3 in shots on goal. Moon paced the offense with a game-high six shots. Hall finished with the goal and the assist on the first NIU tally.
 
Drew Donnally recorded five saves, with NIU credited with six overall on the team save. Sam Glass made one save in defeat.
 
Up next, it's back to Horizon League action on Saturday, welcoming Belmont to Engelmann Stadium for a 7 p.m. start.