MILWAUKEE – On a rainy, windy, dreary day for soccer, Daiki Kumakawa came through with a brilliant goal late and goalkeeper Daniel Ibarra made seven saves to send the Milwaukee men's soccer team to a well-deserved 1-0 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne Sunday afternoon in first-round action in the Horizon League Tournament at Engelmann Stadium.
 
Playing in the postseason for the first time in three years, the Panthers (9-4-5) took care of business, snapping their three-game losing streak in the all-time series to the Mastodons (7-7-2) in the process of advancing to the semifinals of the league tournament on Thursday in Michigan.
 
"We kind of expected the weather today – we talked about that as a group and said 'who knows what the elements are going to bring today' … I think we experienced all four seasons in 90 minutes," head coach Kris Kelderman joked about the conditions. "It's one of those things where you have to accept there will be moments when you can play good, proper soccer and there will be moments when you have to tough it out, roll up your sleeves and just fight for 50-50 balls. And we saw both of those situations throughout the 90 minutes today. The guys did well. They did what they needed to do – they adjusted when we had to defend and weather some of the storm coming from PFW. And then, when it was time to be aggressive and go for it and take advantage of some opportunities, we did. I think it was a good, complete game for us."
 
The MKE defense was under plenty of pressure in the opening period, with the 'Dons accounting for 12 of the 15 shots before intermission.
 
The offense had a couple good looks early – Bienvenu Djunga had a close-range shot past the keeper but knocked away by the defense in the 17^th minute and only an impressive save kept Jack Wagner's header off a pass from Breon Jarvis out of the net two minutes later. The visitors also had a decent look but hit the crossbar in the 38^th minute.
 
Ibarra was up to the task all day, coming up with a big stop off a corner kick in the closing seconds of the first half and then again early in the second half when he made a reactionary one-handed save of a hard shot in the box to keep it 0-0 in the 52^nd minute off a quick combination of Purdue Fort Wayne passes in the box.
 
It was more of the same in the second, yet the Panthers did not break, finally coming through for the only score of the afternoon in the 73^rd minute. Just when the rain started coming down in sheets yet again, David Cox turned a ball over with a pickoff in the attacking third. His pass found Alejandro Martinez, who one-touched to Kumakawa coming down the wing. He fired a blast inside the left post, scoring for the third time in the last four games at the 72:57 mark to break up the scoreless battle.
 
Felix Huwiler nearly added an insurance tally, sending one just wide off passes from Mesfin Roda and Kumakawa in the 80^th minute. From there, it was all up to the defense, who had to scramble down the stretch to preserve the big win, fending off a pair of shots and three corner kicks in the final five minutes of the match.
 
"That's what winners do, they find ways to win," Kelderman said of the result despite the large shot discrepancy. "Sometimes it's not pretty, sometimes it's the hard work. Some games we got results where we got outshot, but at the end of the day, you are looking for quality both on the defensive and offensive ends and today we had both of those. It was enough, it was good enough to get us the result, so I have no complaints. We are starting to gel, starting to sync. It took us a little while to get going, which was maybe expected, but I am glad it happened. I think we are playing our best football right now."
 
For the day, the Mastodons earned large advantages on the stat sheet, finishing with the 19-7 advantage in shots, 7-4 in shots on goal, and a whopping 11-2 in corner kicks, as well as 59 percent of possession in the match. Martinez was the only Panther to record more than one shot, finishing with a pair.
 
The result was all that mattered, with the 1-0 victory sending Milwaukee on to the remainder of the league event this upcoming weekend. The Panthers will travel to Michigan, where No. 1 seed Oakland is hosting. Semifinals are slated for Thursday, where MKE will take on Robert Morris, the No. 2 seed, set to kickoff at 4 p.m. ET.