MILWAUKEE – Filip Dostanic made five saves in his collegiate debut to help the Milwaukee men's soccer team post a 0-0 draw against Southern Indiana Thursday evening at Engelmann Stadium.
The Panthers (0-0-1) finished with an overall shot advantage against the Screaming Eagles (0-0-1) and had the better run of play but were not able to find a goal to pull out the victory, settling for the draw on opening night.
"I learned that we have to figure some things out about how to score some goals – but we did have some decent chances," head coach
Kris Kelderman said. "Obviously, we outshot them statistically, we just have to get better in the attacking third. First things first, we want to start with the defense, and I thought we were pretty solid defensively. We have to figure out who is working best with combinations and just get these guys in more situations in front of the goal so maybe they are not feeling so much pressure and getting more comfortable in front of the goal."
After the teams settled in a bit,
Felix Huwiler had the best early opportunity, stealing a ball at midfield before sprinting down the pitch for a breakaway chance – but a solid save kept the score 0-0.
It was
Jack Bretzmann in the 38
th giving it a go, sending a close-range header on frame on a nice ball from
Breon Jarvis, nearly beating the USI goalkeeper.
The Panthers nearly beat the clock for the halftime advantage, but
Praise Ogwu's one-timer at 44:59 on the clock – on a nice find from the endline by
Ben Bausch – was blocked by the final Southern Indiana defender before it could get to the line.
"It's execution … we created enough chances to score some goals tonight," Kelderman said. "So, it's disappointing, yes, but I am not panicking and I told the same thing to the guys. We do have to be better in the attacking third. It's a final pass; it's a final shot … but we have to keep getting better. Out of the 28 guys on our roster, 15 are different from last fall. In our starting lineup tonight, we might have had three or four guys who were with us last fall. It's a lot of newness, but at the end of the day – saying that – I don't want to use it as an excuse. We could have and should have scored a goal today. We just have to get sharper in front of the goal."
Dostanic was solid all night, getting to several dangerous balls in addition to being in full control of the five saves that he did make. One came on a quick restart after a foul, ranging back after the free kick was sent deep from midfield in an attempt to catch him off his line, but he made the stop backing up before any danger in the 57
th minute.
It marked just the second shutout in a season opener since 2018.
For the game, Milwaukee ended with advantages of 16-11 in total shots, the 6-5 edge in shots on goal, 5-2 in corner kicks, as well as a small 52/48 edge in possession. Huwiler (2 of 3 shots on goal) and
Roy Nozawa led the team with three shots apiece.
Up next, the team has the weekend off before returning to action Monday. The Panthers head to Illinois to take on Chicago State, set for an early 11 a.m. kickoff.
