DeKALB, Ill. – The Milwaukee men's soccer team overcome a pair of deficits but couldn't fend off a late goal while playing shorthanded in falling 3-2 to Northern Illinois Monday night at the NIU Soccer Complex.
 
"I feel bad for our guys," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "It was a really good effort, especially under the circumstances. We knew we would have our hands full, but very pleased with the performance."
 
The Panthers (1-3-0) played down a man for nearly the final 20 minutes of the match, unable to hold off a final push by the Huskies (2-1-1) who maintained possession of the LeWang Cup with the victory.
 
"I thought the two goals we scored were really nice," Kelderman said. "That is something we have been striving for, trying to finish more of the opportunities that we have and we scored two really nice goals."
 
Down 1-0 and 2-1, Milwaukee never gave in. Even after a red card was handed out at the 71:44 mark, the team dug deep and nearly pulled off an improbable draw.
 
"We were unfortunate to go a man down," Kelderman said. "I thought we had momentum prior to the referee handing out the card. The decision was very disappointing … it greatly affected the game. At the same time, I thought our guys hung in there in a very chaotic game."
 
Down 2-1 at intermission, Logan Farrington made it a new game with his second goal of the season at the 51:59 mark, nicely finishing a pass from Gabe Anguil who played the give-and-go down the left side.
 
They didn't stop there. Farrington made a nice pass to Josh Kidder who forced a save from the wing in the 76^th minute and it was Farrington again who ran down a loose ball at the top of the 18 and forced a tough stop in the 79^th minute that nearly swung momentum once more.
 
The defense just couldn't hold off the final attempts from NIU, seeing a scrum in front on the eventual game winner with the clock showing 87:38.
 
The offense tried to put something together in the closing seconds, but could not find a way to pull one out.
 
The Huskies struck first but it only lit a fire under the Panthers, who had an answer just 70 seconds later. David Cox stole a ball in the attacking third and played off to Anguil, who returned the favor for Cox to knock in the equalizer with his left foot and make it 1-1 at the 17:40 mark.
 
Northern Illinois went back ahead when it scored directly off a corner kick thru traffic in the 27^th minute and nearly made it 3-1 on another corner a few minutes later. Fortunately, Raul Medina was there for the team save and keep it a one-goal contest.
 
For the game, NIU finished with the 12-9 edge in shots, with MKE the 6-5 advantage in shots on goal. The home team also claimed a substantial 13 of 15 corner kicks. For the Panthers, Farrington led the offense with four shots, three of which were on goal. In net, Nick Chiappa was credited with one save.
 
Up next, the Panthers are again at home, hosting Drake Friday with a match set to start at 7 p.m.