ROCHESTER, Mich. - Nick Moon and
Evan Conway scored second-half goals to send the Milwaukee men's soccer team to its sixth Horizon League victory in a row, topping Oakland by a final score of 2-0 Friday evening at OU Soccer Field.
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The Panthers (10-5-3, 6-3-0 Horizon League) claimed third place in the final conference standings with the win over the Grizzlies (6-10-1, 3-5-1 Horizon League), finishing the season with just one loss (7-1-1) in their final nine games overall.
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Scoreless past intermission, things changed in the 53rd minute. That was when UWM goalkeeper
Freddy Lorenzen made an impressive save on a close-range attempt, but was run into by an OU player. The collision forced Lorenzen out of the game and caused Oakland to play a man down after a red card was handed out.
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In stepped redshirt freshman
Ryan Berger in net, who finished with six saves in 37-plus minutes of relief.
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And just 1:32 after the red card, Moon made the Grizzlies pay. He picked up a turnover along the left sideline and went charging in, twisting his way past two or three members of the back line to create space and sneak a shot in the left post at the 54:12 mark.
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The unassisted strike was Moon's fifth of the season.
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Berger came up big time and time again, including a brilliant stop in the 63
rd minute and another eye-opener on a rifled shot that tried to break up the shutout, but Berger corralled the effort in the final 10 seconds to secure the clean sheet.
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Moon was there to set up goal No. 2 as well, heading a ball cleared by the OU defense to the left wing, where Conway was waiting. He took a couple of touches to create an opening, blasting one to the upper-90 of the other side of the goal for his eighth of the season at the 81:38 mark.
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UWM claimed the win despite being outshot 15-to-10, just the third time this season that the team was outshot. The Panthers did grab the 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Moon led the offense with four shots, while
Jaime Colin added three.
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Up next, the team has earned the No. 3 spot in the Horizon League Tournament, a spot that comes with it a home game on Monday. The Panthers will welcome No. 6 Detroit Mercy to Engelmann Stadium, with a kickoff time set for 7 p.m.
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