MILWAUKEE – Detroit Mercy made the most of its limited opportunities to score a goal in each half and hand the Milwaukee men's soccer team a 2-0 loss Saturday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (1-7-5, 0-3-3 Horizon League) were playing without a couple of key pieces of their offense but still controlled the game against the Titans (4-6-4, 3-1-3 Horizon League) despite the final scoreline, outshooting the visitors 14-6 on the day while maintaining 62 percent of possession overall.
 
"Coming into the match without your number one and two scorers, we knew we had a challenge in front of us," head coach Kris Kelderman said, "That said, that's not why we lost today. We outshot them 14-6, but struggled with our final pass, the final shot, which we have been challenged with all season long."
 
Milwaukee was playing shorthanded, with both Logan Farrington (red card) and Raul Medina (injury) missing the match – both of whom came into the day in the Top 8 in the Horizon League in scoring.
 
Evenly played at the start, UDM struck first on a play where a deflection created an opening, sneaking one it at the 24:45 mark to take the 1-0 lead. That would end up being enough to help them extend their win streak to three in a row on the season and record a victory on Engelmann Stadium for the first time since the 2012 campaign.
 
"The two goals we gave up – the first one was a bit unfortunate but the second goal, the ball bounced into the net," Kelderman said. "I think there was a lack of communication there, a lack of will between our goalkeeper and the people in front of him and somehow the ball bounces in. If we are going to give away a goal or two every single game, things aren't going to happen for us in a positive manner. It's disappointing because the points are incredibly important at this stage in the conference season. But we try and regroup and see if we can get better for the next one."
 
The MKE offense held the 7-5 edge in shots at the break, nearly seeing Emil Lindgren Pedersen equalize on a pair of quality chances. His 42^nd minute free kick was secured with a full-out diving save and then in the 44^th his rocket from the wing went just wide.
 
Detroit Mercy did not push in the second half, choosing to sit back and defend its one-goal lead. A miscommunication on a long free kick turned the Titans lone second-half shot attempt into a goal, bouncing through traffic and slowly into the back of the net in the 58^th minute, coming from near midfield.
 
The Panthers controlled the large majority of the game the rest of the way but could not break through, coming closest on an attempt by David Cox in the 87^th minute, which was controlled very well by UDM keeper Jonathan Kliewer, who recorded six saves on the day for the shutout.
 
The final stats looked like this: shots were 14-6 MKE, shots on goal were 6-3 in favor of the home team, and corner kicks saw Milwaukee with the 5-4 edge. Lindgren Pedersen posted a career-high seven shots (4 on goal), tying the high-water mark for most shots in a game by a Panther this fall.
 
Two games will be on the schedule next, starting with a step out of league play midweek to take on Northwestern. The team travels to Illinois Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start against the Wildcats.