DAYTON, Ohio – The Milwaukee men's soccer team dug out of an early deficit to take a 2-1 second-half lead but could not hold on in falling to Wright State, 4-2, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
"Pretty disappointing result … pretty disappointing effort from our group today, to be honest," head coach
Kris Kelderman said. "At the end of the day, as I told the guys after the game, we just got out-competed. We got beat by a team that just wanted it more today and I think it was obvious from minute one to the 90th minute of the game."
The Panthers (3-6-6, 2-1-3 Horizon Legue) trailed early after a goal by the Raiders (2-10-1, 2-4-0 Horizon League) in the 10
th minute. The team found an equalizer before intermission and the go-ahead goal early in the second half but could not hold the momentum in falling for the first time in a conference game this season.
"It's disappointing because we've gone through a nice stretch of a handful of games with some good fight; good performance. But today was not the day that we were hoping for," Kelderman said. "For whatever reason, we lacked some sharpness, but I think the thing that's most disappointing is that it took us 35 minutes into the game to win our first tackle, first challenge. When the other team is excited and fighting for their lives just to get in the conference tournament, the battle – the fight – is on. And clearly, they brought fight today and we didn't bring enough."
WSU struck first, when
Nic Diana made the initial save on the attack but the second found the back of the net at the 9:14 mark.
MKE came close to a quick answer, but
Jack Wagner's header in the 19
th minute went just wide off a corner kick.
It was the corner that played the role later in the half, with
Ryan Berghauer heading in
Mitch Goodman's service to make it 1-1 at the 37:28 mark.
Just after intermission, it was Goodman again. His long ball over the back found
Dominic Zuniga, who zoomed into the box. His crossing pass was slid onto by
Daiki Kumakawa, giving the Panthers the 2-1 lead in the 48
th minute on his third goal of the fall.
Looking to hold on to the lead, it was WSU that responded with goals in the 66
th and 73
rd minutes to turn the game on its head.
"We have to learn from this experience because we still have three more games to go and we're still in the hunt," Kelderman said. "Hopefully, we as a group learn from our lack of performance, the reasons why today went like it did, and we improve that in our next game."
MKE pushed for another equalizer, but a third unanswered goal in the 85
th minute iced the win for the home side.
Bienvenu Djunga was denied a goal with a brilliant stop off a long ball from
Angel Gongora in the 87
th minute, the best scoring chance the Panthers had late.
For the day, the Raiders posted advantages of 13-7 in total shots, while shots on goal were even at five apiece. The visitors earned the 5-4 edge in corner kicks. Wagner's pair of shot attempts led the team.
Up next, the Panthers remain on the road for one game next week, traveling to battle Robert Morris Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT against the Colonials.