MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee women's soccer team fought back from a pair of one-goal deficits to pick up a 2-2 draw against IUPUI on "Senior Day" Sunday afternoon at Engelmann Stadium.
 
"Credit to the team to find a way to come from behind and tie the game up," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "The interesting thing that we talked about after the game, is that we are at our best and most aggressive when we are losing – that should not be the case. We get it tied up and just don't have the foot on the gas at that point."
 
The Panthers (9-2-4, 6-0-2 Horizon League) leveled the match with the Jaguars (9-3-4, 3-1-4 Horizon League) at 1-1 in the 59^th minute and found the tying goal at 2-2 in the 81^st minute, guaranteeing themselves at least a share of the Horizon League regular-season title with the results across the conference.
 
"What's great is we got a couple of good goals," Boyd said. "I felt like we had a lot of good opportunities that we didn't put away. IUPUI was good on the day and when they had their opportunities, they were extremely dangerous with them."
 
The MKE offense came out firing, nearly getting on the board at the 8:51 mark on a shot from Molly O'Regan, seeing the Jaguars clear the immediate rebound out of harm's way as well. Just 90 seconds later, Kat Van Booven had her shot sent off the line by an IUPUI defender, also preventing the first score of the day.
 
The visitors then took advantage of their only true threat of the opening 45 minutes, heading in a corner kick at the 13:56 mark.
 
Milwaukee eventually brought it back to level off a Lainey Higgins' free kick in the 59^th minute, with Jenni Andjelic there to sneak a goal inside the back post after the ball was redirected briefly in front.
 
The momentum was short-lived however, as the Jags took advantage of a turnover to move ahead 2-1 just 2:56 later.
 
Up next was nearly an even quicker response from the Panthers. Van Booven was stopped from the wing in the 62nd minute, and again, the backline of the IUPUI defense came through knocking away O'Regan's clear look at a tying goal.
 
The game was getting late when Milwaukee did find the answer, seeing Clara Broecker net her fourth of the season when she popped a shot over the charging goalkeeper off Senya Meurer's through ball at the 80:37 mark to make it a new game at 2-2. Neither team came up with a quality chance the rest of the way to end in the deadlock.
 
"IUPUI was playing for its tournament life right now," Boyd said. "They brought it today and they were good. I thought we were just good enough … and that's what happens and you result in a 2-2 tie."
 
For the day, Milwaukee ended with advantages of 13-11 in total shots as well as 12-6 in shots on goal. Both teams finished with 50/50 possession and the visitors earned five of the nine corner kicks. Broecker led the offense with three shots. In goal, Kendall Edwards was credited with four saves.
 
The day included a pregame ceremony honoring the MKE graduating players: #2 Clara Broecker, #8 Kat Van Booven, #14 Emma Famulak, #27 Izzy Gollette, #29 Brooke Parnello, #33 Kendall Edwards, and #36 Katie Swenson.
 
"It's a great group that has driven this program for a while," Boyd said. "They are driving us right now and we are getting really good soccer out of a lot of them. This senior group has been very good, very committed to what we are trying to do and very focused on it."
 
Up next, the conclusion of the regular season slows down, with the Panthers playing just one game next week. The team hits the road to battle Oakland Saturday, set for a 12 p.m. CST kickoff.