DAYTON, Ohio – Adi Vaknin helped the Milwaukee men's soccer team earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Wright State with a first-half goal Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.
 
The Panthers (3-4-1, 2-1-1 Horizon League) fell behind to the Raiders (3-4-1, 2-1-1 Horizon League) in the 27^th minute. Vaknin's goal came less than 10 minutes later and held up the rest of the afternoon.
 
Despite getting outshot by an 11-to-2 margin in the first half, Milwaukee's defensive effort helped get it back to level before intermission. MKE goalkeeper Nick Chiappa started his performance with a brilliant save in the 15^th minute, only to see WSU then open the scoring at the 26:41 mark.
 
Vaknin made something out of nothing to net his second goal of the fall, picking up a turnover near the back line and then powering a shot past the charging goalie to level the match at the 35:19 mark.
 
Chiappa kept momentum on his team's side next. On the immediate kickoff following the goal, the Raiders came charging downfield. An open shot came at the goal and rebounded off the post, right back to another open player. Chiappa did well to save that attempt, punching the ball over the crossbar and avoid what would have been a go-ahead goal just 29 seconds later.
 
Milwaukee had a couple of quality chances to win it late. Logan Farrington had one, only to see his rocketed attempt blocked from close-range in the 83^rd minute after getting sprung free on a pass from Shawn Azcueta following a throw-in from Quinn Rechner.
 
Chiappa came up big in the first overtime, somehow corralling a save from his backside after the ball kept bounding around the box in the 93^rd minute. Farrington had a chance on a one-timer in the 101^st following a nice pass from Gabe Anguil, but was not able to get enough on it to find the net.
 
Chiappa came up with one more huge diving save in the 102^nd and Milwaukee's final chance was also stopped. It came off a corner kick in the final 30 seconds. The ball ended up coming back out and Raul Medina gave it a ride, but the WSU keeper was able to make a clean save and preserve the 1-1 draw.
 
The home team did come up with advantages on the scoresheet, ending the match with more shots (23-13), more shots on goal (7-5), more corner kicks (8-5), as well as the 54-46 edge in possession.
 
Farrington topped the MKE offense with five shots; Vaknin tallied three. Chiappa finished the contest with five saves.
 
The team heads to Indianapolis Saturday, set to take on IUPUI in a game set to start at 12 p.m. CST.