CLEVELAND, Ohio – A goal by Clara Broecker in the 82^nd minute sent the Milwaukee women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Cleveland State Thursday afternoon at Krenzler Field.
 
The Panthers (4-2-2, 1-0 Horizon League) led the Vikings (3-5, 0-1 Horizon League) until just before intermission and then found the winner late to prevail and stay unbeaten in the series, moving to 24-0-1 all-time against CSU, including a perfect 12-0 on the road.
 
"It's always hard to win away from home and this was proof of that," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "We're not happy with giving up that goal on a corner but we love that we came back in the second half and found a way to score on the road in a tough game. We are still trying to focus on us and continue to play better soccer but hats off to Cleveland State – they were quite good and they will do well in the league this year."
 
Broecker netted her third of the season off a free kick, heading in a well-struck lead pass from Lainey Higgins at the 81:18 mark to break the 1-1 deadlock. That held up as neither team recorded a shot the rest of the way until the MKE defense forced a miss on the last CSU attempt in the final minute of play to secure the road decision.
 
"It was a 1-1 game going into halftime and they had a little momentum from that goal," Boyd said. "In the second half, it was played more in the midfield. We got a couple of set pieces and then a really good goal on service from Lainey into Clara who headed it home quite well."
 
The Panthers dominated the first half but had to settle for a new game heading into the locker room when Cleveland State found a goal off a corner kick in the 42^nd minute. That came just after Kendall Edwards made quality saves in the 38^th and 39^th minutes to keep it 1-0 at the time.
 
The Vikings fired off the first shot in the opening minute and then the Milwaukee offense took control, recording the next seven shots of the afternoon. Senya Meurer nearly had the opening tally in the eighth minute off a corner kick, only to see a backline defender stop the ball from crossing the goal line.
 
Kayla Rollins then got the scoring started, finding the back of the net for the fourth time in the last five games at the 23:02 mark. She was assisted by Kristina Karlof after the CSU defense could not clear the ball from trouble. Rollins nearly made it a brace, but had back-to-back attempts saved by the home keeper in the 30^th minute.
 
For the game, the MKE offense ended up with small advantages of 12-8 in total shots, 8-5 in shots on goal, and 55 percent of possession while also earning two of the game's six corner kicks. Rollins led the way with four shot attempts. In net, Edwards finished the afternoon with four saves.
 
The team returns home next to welcome Detroit Mercy for the conference home opener Sunday, set to kick off at 1 p.m. at Engelmann Stadium.