ROCHESTER, Mich. – Angel Gongora converted a penalty kick in the 88^th minute to help the Milwaukee men's soccer team pull out a 1-1 draw against Oakland Saturday afternoon at Oakland Soccer Field.
 
The Panthers (2-3-5, 1-0-2 Horizon League) were down against the Golden Grizzlies (0-5-4, 0-2-1 Horizon League) from the 11^th minute on, but hung in there and never gave up to pull out a point on the road in the impactful conference matchup, played on an unseasonably warm day with game temperatures in the mid to upper-80's.
 
"The positive is that the guys responded really well," head coach Kris Kelderman said of the second half. "I mean, outside of scoring two goals to win the game, I just thought the response was very good. The energy picked up the, the fight picked up, the urgency to go forward … we created some chances. Much better in the second half and to get a point on the road against a team like Oakland could do us wonders at the end of the season with all of the parity in the conference."
 
The MKE offense dialed up the pressure down the stretch, seeing Bienvenu Djunga contribute a pair of decent looks in the 84^th and 88^th minutes. On the second attempt, he was brought down from behind in the box, resulting in the PK.
 
Gongora stepped to the spot and calmy buried it the equalizer at the 87:32 mark.
 
After falling behind at the 10:37 mark, the offense created a handful of quality looks on the day but was unable to convert until the late PK. Djunga produced the first one early, finding Fernando Pirry on a diagonal run to goal on the 12^th minute, only to see a kick save knock his attempt just wide.
 
"The first half was a lackluster performance from us, to say the least," Kelderman said. "I couldn't have a big enough go with the guys at halftime – we looked disinterested, we looked flat, we looked like a group of guys that didn't have a whole lot of energy or fight, and it was disappointing. With some of the strong performances that we've had throughout this season, I was disappointed that we came out in a conference game in that manner. We were lucky to only be down a goal at halftime – and I don't have a problem saying that, and I said that to the guys at halftime."
 
The team started the second half strong, coming close to a tying strike in the 48^th minute. A good build-up from Miguel Rivera Cardona to Jack Bretzmann started it, with Bretzmann's serve to the front sent just wide by the foot of Dominic Zuniga.
 
Gongora created the next opportunity, sending a long ball over the back of the defense in the 57^th minute. Felix Huwiler was not able to get a good strike on the ball, however, resulting in a save at the post.
 
Nic Diana came through with six saves of his own to pick up the draw in net, including a pair of impressive stops. He got his hands up quick to make a nice stop of a ball through traffic in the 27^th and then made a diving save following a long-ball attack in the 74^th minute that kept the deficit at 1-0 at the time and gave the team its chance to get a result at the end.
 
For the day, the home side ended the match with advantages of 15-11 in total shots, 8-6 in shots on target, and 9-3 in corners. Djunga led the Milwaukee offense with four shot attempts.
 
The Panthers open the month of October with a road trip to Virginia next, set for Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. CT. The Cavaliers are currently 5-1-1 on the season and ranked No. 12 nationally.