DAYTON, Ohio – Three goals over the final 12 minutes turned a scoreless affair into a big 3-0 victory for the Milwaukee men's soccer team against Dayton Monday afternoon at Baujan Field.
On a day with temperatures in the 90's and heat index approaching triple-digits, the Panthers (1-2) opened the scoring against the Flyers (1-2-1) on a penalty kick from
David Cox in the 79
th minute and then piled on with brilliant strikes from
Daiki Kumakawa and
Asher Ozuzu to pick up the big road victory.
"Very pleased with the result today and extremely happy for the boys," head coach
Kris Kelderman said. "We knew we were going on the road against a very good Dayton team on a very hot day. We had a game plan in place and I am extremely proud of the guys to pull it off. They worked hard, fought for each other, and did a nice job taking advantage of some opportunities that we had."
Goalkeeper
Daniel Ibarra also had a great day in net, making six saves to record the first shutout of his MKE career.
"We have been playing some pretty good soccer but challenged in finding some results so far, but it all came together today," Kelderman said. "It's been better and better every time we step on the field. Today was a very good team win with some very good individual performance as well."
Scoreless deep into the match, Milwaukee finally broke through after
Abdu Regassa was fouled in the box. Cox calmly netted the spot kick and the lead was 1-0 at the 78:12 mark.
The Panthers then caught a bit of luck on their side next. Playing down a man after a second yellow became a red card for the home side, the Flyers found themselves with a chance to level it on a PK of their own less than 30 seconds later. It was not to be, however, clanging off the crossbar and out of bounds.
"Not afraid to admit that we were very fortunate on a few plays and caught some breaks today," Kelderman said. "But it certainly feels good because it feels like the guys haven't been on the positive side of the breaks in games we have played."
The MKE offense then cranked up the pressure. It was Regassa this time, zig-zagging through the box before finding Kumakawa in stride for the one-timer into the back of the net at the 81:24 mark.
Bienvenu Djunga then saw his quality effort stopped nicely on a lead pass from Asher in the 83
rd minute to keep things rolling. It was a sign of things to come as the duo worked together – in reverse – for the final goal, with Djunga breaking free Asher on a thru ball with the freshman doing the rest for his second goal of the season at the 86:09 mark – and then on to the celebratory backflip to seal it.
Ibarra then made a final save with 39 seconds left to preserve the shutout and get Milwaukee on the road home with the big win.
Shots were slightly in Dayton's favor at intermission but Milwaukee definitely had the better of the chances and it started fairly early when a cross from
Raul Medina was headed just wide by
Arthur Souza in the 13
th minute.
Harry Lee's free kick set up Djunga for a quality header chance in the 38
th minute, kept out of the net's upper-90 on a nice stop by the Flyer goalkeeper.
Ibarra made an important save on the ensuing counter attack which quickly went the other way for the MKE offense. Djunga played an overlap pass to Kumakawa following a turnover and only a spectacular save kept the game scoreless at the 38:19 mark and prevented what could have been a brace on the day.
That chance turned into a corner kick and Dario Catenao was immediately at it again, keeping
Quinn Rechner's short-hopped header from the back of the net.
Ibarra then came through with his best effort of the first 45 minutes, making a full-out diving stop on a shot from distance in the 42
nd minute to get the game to the break at 0-0.
For the day, Milwaukee was outshot, 20-14, but won the edge in shots on target at 8-6. The Flyers owned seven of the 10 corner kicks and 58 percent of possession. Ozuzu led the MKE offense with four shots.
Up next, the Panthers open Horizon League play, hosting Purdue Fort Wayne Saturday, set for a 3 p.m. start.
