MILWAUKEE – A late goal by Alan Lopez broke a 1-1 deadlock and sent the Milwaukee men's soccer team to an impressive 2-1 victory over Drake Tuesday evening at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (4-2-3) struck late to snap the six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) that the Bulldogs (6-3-1) came to town with. The victory also extends Milwaukee's unbeaten streak in the series to four games (3-0-1) dating back to 2016 and came against a team that was ranked No. 5 this week in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Poll.
 
"We knew it was going to be a hard game," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "Drake is having a great season and they are good technically, they are good athletically, they are a big strong team that works extremely hard. We came into the game knowing that we needed a good performance to get a result. We knew there was going to be ups and downs to the game and had to deal with both … and I thought we did that. Good team defense, stayed compact. They had some quickness on the flanks and the overall team defense was very good from start to finish."
 
Back-and-forth from the start with the Bulldogs carrying the majority of possession, the MKE offense struck first in the 25^th minute. The score came on a counterattack out of the back, with Bienvenu Djunga taking possession of a turnover and carrying the ball through traffic past the midfield stripe. His ball over the top glanced off a defender and allowed Asher Ozuzu to do the rest, beating the charging goalkeeper to the ball and burying it in the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage at the 24:42 mark.
 
Just when it looked like it would stay that way on the scoreboard going into intermission, Drake took advantage of a corner kick. Earlier in the game (ninth minute), Daniel Ibarra was able to punch away a would-be goal to record a save on a prior corner, but this time he punched the ball out of danger and popped it high into the air. Kai Knuchel was waiting for the open volley at the top of the 18-yard box, firing a blast into the net to equalize at the 42:31 mark.
 
It stayed that way deep into the second half. Milwaukee had a tougher time connecting passes but found a chance in the 69^th minute when Alan Lopez found Mesfin Roda on a nice diagonal pass into space. Roda charged towards goal and saw his 10-yard shot get partially deflected by the last line of defense. Goalie Tomas Butkovic then somehow managed to stop the ball at the post with a kick save and keep the game knotted.
 
Roda kept firing and his next chance turned into the game-winner. His shot from distance in the 81^st minute was saved, but not controlled. The rebound came out and Lopez was there to slot it home, recording his second goal of the fall at the 81:00 mark.
 
"Both goals from Asher and from Alan were huge individual efforts and that's what it takes," Kelderman said. "You need a couple of guys to step up. That's the unfortunate thing about soccer – you can play for 90 minutes and 2-3 second-plays decide the game and get us a win. Not only does every minute matter, but every second matters. We feel good about what we can do, the question is 'can we be consistent and bring that every game?'."
 
The defense did the rest as Ibarra made a nice save on a strong shot from the wing in the 84^th minute and came charging out to cover up a cross that could have been trouble in the 90^th to close out the victory.
 
For the game, the visitors did finish with the advantage of 16-9 in shots, with MKE the 6-5 edge in shots on goal. The Bulldogs earned four of the six corner kicks and ended with 58 percent possession. Roda led the offense with three shot attempts, while Ibarra recorded four saves in the victory.
 
Up next, the team returns to Horizon League play Saturday, welcoming Oakland to town for a match set to start at 1 p.m.