DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee women's soccer team overcame a pair of deficits on the day, but could not dig out of a third hole in falling to Wright State by a final score of 3-2 Thursday at Alumni Field.
 
The Panthers (3-3-1, 0-1 Horizon League) drew even with the Raiders (4-4, 1-0 Horizon League) at 1-1 and again at 2-2, only to see the home team strike for a third time in the 80^th minute and hold the visitors without an answer the rest of the way. WSU set the tone for the day early, finding a goal off a corner kick in the 16^th minute, followed by a save on a PK just over five minutes later.
 
"We had a very poor first 20 minutes," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "We came out like you would kind of expect with a young team. We have to learn how to travel like this in the Horizon League and still perform. Our first 20 minutes, we just weren't on top of it – effort, ball control, everything. They got a goal on us; it woke us up a bit. We came back, missed a PK, and then got a goal to tie it up … but it was never very clean."
 
Even at 1-1 at the break, Wright State tallied a goal from distance to go ahead 2-1. It came in the 66^th minute, perfectly placed after dribbling to top of 18 and firing to the top corner.
 
MKE amped up the offense in search of an answer and kept up the pressure before again making it a new game at 2-2. Lainey Higgins sent a free kick off the crossbar in the 70^th minute, followed by a saved shot on a floater from Anna Karam in the 75^th and another stop off a shot from Higgins in the box in the 76^th.
 
Higgins was busy again the next possession, finding Brooke Parnello streaking to the top of the 18. Parnello one-timed a pass to a streaking Molly O'Regan, who timed her touch perfectly and found the inside of the far post to make it 2-2 at the 77:25 mark.
 
WSU then spoiled the fun, edging ahead at 3-2 just 1:54 later.
 
"The second half was just an end-to-end affair," Boyd said. "They ended up getting a third goal, which looked to be offsides but the linesman didn't call it. It was one of those things, but at the same time we shouldn't have been in that position. I told the team the game felt like from us, we played in fits and bursts where we didn't have a sustained effort by the team, player by player, all the way through. It was just up and down the whole time and led to this back-and-forth, all-over-the-place kind of game."
 
Milwaukee really picked things up after Wright State found the opening goal on a corner kick in the 16^th minute, seeing Haley Johnson force a tough save on the second of her quality header attempts at the 20:42 mark (her first one came in the 12^th minute). Just 30 seconds later, a handball was called on the WSU defense, but the Panthers were unable to convert the PK attempt.
 
They didn't let that stop them, ending up with an 11-5 advantage in shots by the break, eventually finding the equalizer on a great effort from Natalie Auble.
 
Just 54 seconds after subbing into the match, Auble beat the two backline defenders to a long pass from Elizabeth Reece, taking a touch to clear the charging goalie before finding the back of the net at the 29:21 mark. Auble nearly had a second goal, running down another long ball after the goalie whiffed on a chance to control. Her header was inching towards the goal line, cleared off the line by a WSU defender just before crossing as the game ticked into the 43^rd minute.
 
Final numbers saw Milwaukee with the 20-9 advantage in shots, 10-7 edge in shots on goal, and 9-4 count on corner kicks. Johnson and Breanna Culver paced the offense with four shots apiece. Kendall Edwards made three saves and allowed one goal in the opening 45 minutes, while Parker Donahugh finished with one save and two goals allowed in the second.
 
"I was surprised to see we outshot them, 20-9, because it just didn't feel like that," Boyd said. "Credit to them – they took nine shots, seven on frame, and three of them went in – so pretty good finishing percentage on their end. Of our 20 shots, 10 were on frame, and only two went in. So we weren't nearly as dangerous as they were when it came to finishing. But I am more concerned with leaking goals and turning over balls, and not working hard enough as a group from the beginning of the game to the end. We are not too happy with this, but we have to regroup and bounce back Sunday."
 
The loss snaps a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) in the series that dated back to 2014 and included seven wins in a row going into today. It also marked the first loss in a Horizon League opener since 2012. MKE returns home to host Robert Morris Sunday, set for a 1 p.m. start.