MILWAUKEE – Abdu Regassa scored a pair of goals and Logan Farrington put it away with a third goal late in the game as the Milwaukee men's soccer team picked up a key 3-1 victory over Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (7-5-1, 5-2-1 Horizon League) trailed the Norse (6-9, 4-5 Horizon League) following a 31^st-minute goal off a free kick, but responded in a huge way with three unanswered goals of their own to claim the important three points in the Horizon League standings.
 
"In all honestly, not only are the three points huge, but most importantly for me, I thought that was our best soccer of the season," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "A lot of really good individual performances as well from back to front. From minute one to minute 90, it's hard to play at a high level and I thought we maintained a high level for the entire game."
 
Down 1-0 after an NKU free kick snuck inside the near post, Regassa came through with his first goal of the campaign to make it 1-1 just over seven minutes later.
 
"I thought we got off to a really good start and the only thing is, that when you are playing well and the reward isn't there, it can be frustrating," Kelderman said. "We knew we were playing well, we had to keep plugging away. But once we got that first goal it was like a weight lifted off our shoulders."
 
Jake Kelderman started the scoring play from beyond midfield, sending a perfect long ball to Adi Vaknin. Vaknin, chested the ball down, spun around and found Regassa at the far post, getting just enough on it to make it over the goal line at the 37:45 mark.
 
Regassa nearly had a second just out of the break, but pushed his attempt inches wide of the right post after Vaknin again set him up for the attempt in the 50^th minute.
 
Vaknin then appeared to make it 2-1 in the 55^th minute, back-heeling a pass from Raul Medina inside the near post – but the flag was up and the goal was waved off for offsides. Regassa then struck for what turned out to be the game-winner in the 65^th minute, slotting in a pass that Gabe Anguil threaded through the box for the 2-1 advantage.
 
Farrington then added the hammer, blasting a goal into the back of the net in the 88^th minute, ensuring that Milwaukee would improve to 8-1 in the all-time series with the decision.
 
Gijs Van Schouten was back in goal today for the Panthers, earning the victory with a seven-save performance. Two of the stops stood out – both near-identical in leaving his feet to get just enough of attempts in the 62^nd and 89^th minutes to knock them over the bar and out of harm's way.
 
MKE ended the afternoon with heavy advantages of 22-to-12 in shots (9-8 edge in shots on goal), 9-to-3 in corner kicks, as well as 59 percent of possession. Farrington paced the offense with six shots, while Regassa (2G) and Anguil (2A) each tallied four.
 
Up next, the Panthers host St. Thomas Tuesday, which will also serve as "Senior Night" for the Milwaukee seniors. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.