DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee men's soccer team nearly played the role of underdog to perfection once again, but came up just short in the end when Wright State advanced in a penalty-kick shootout following a 1-1 draw Thursday night in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals.
 
"Unfortunately, we didn't get the result that we wanted tonight," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "But saying that – the evening and week was very rewarding for me as a coach and the players should have their heads held high. We went against a lot tonight and the guys gave us everything they had and gave us a chance."
 
The Panthers (9-7-3) fell behind the Raiders (13-2-3) and lost their starting goalkeeper in the first half, but rose to the occasion in finding an equalizer and taking the No. 18 team in the country beyond overtime before coming up just short of an appearance in the league title game.
 
"I felt we had the momentum starting in the second half and going on throughout the rest of the game," Kelderman said. "We gave ourselves a chance to come out winners on the scoreboard and we were unlucky, we were unfortunate. The guys did everything they could. At the end of the day, I told the players they should be proud and that I am a proud coach."
 
WSU will advance to play Saturday in the finals after claiming the PK shootout, 4-3. This also all came after MKE – the six seed – upset No. 3 Oakland Monday, and was beaten, 4-0, by the Raiders just six days ago in the regular-season finale.
 
"Tonight was a tough one for our group," Kelderman said. "The effort was outstanding. Considering the week we had – playing Wright State six days ago at their place, losing 4-0 to a nationally-ranked squad – having to deal with that and then moving on to Oakland. Then winning in a tough environment there and then coming back to Wright State. Let's be honest – not many people expected us to get a result tonight. And we had a number of influential people with injuries, had the injury to Freddy – and at the end of the day, I asked the guys to come and fight and battle and they delivered."
 
Milwaukee actually had the better of it in the extra 20 minutes, nearly winning in the final seconds of regulation. Evan Conway had the ball in the box but was unable to find an opening. Once the defense played the ball back out, Vuk Latinovich got a foot on it to center it to a charging Paolo Gratton – who fired just wide of the upper 90 of the goal as the clock ran out.
 
Ryan Berger – making his first appearance of the season after starter Freddy Lorenzen was injured early in the contest – made back-to-back brilliant stops in the 92^nd minute, knocking away a rifled shot at the post before hopping to his feet, rushing to the other post and collecting a header that also had the chance to be the winner.
 
Milwaukee found itself without Lorenzen in the 19^th minute and then down a goal in the 37^th minute on the way to getting outshot, 9-to-1, by intermission.
 
Just as in the first round, the Panthers clawed their way back. This time, they took advantage of a failed clearance, with Cameron Williams winning the ball before centering to Jackson Dryden charging down the middle of the field.
 
Dryden took two quick touches and set up Conway with a toe poke, sending a left-footed shot past the charging keeper and into the back of the net at the 63:13 mark to even it up.
 
For the game, MKE ended up getting outshot, 16-to-7, overall, but just 7-6 after intermission. The team also finished with more corner kick at 7-to-6. Conway (2) was the only player to record more than one shot attempt.
 
In net, Berger ended up with six saves, an impressive night given the circumstances and the fact that he was making his season debut after Lorenzen left injured at the 18:54 mark.
 
With the decision, the 2018 season comes to a close for the Panthers.
 
"For the senior class, it's always tough after that last game," Kelderman said. "The five seniors (Alex Eastman, Sean Holmes, Griffin Kerwin, Sean Reynolds, Francesco Saporito) that we recognized this year, from day one, to their last efforts – it's something that the program and the university should be very proud of."