Sept. 22, 2009

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team will get Horizon League play underway this weekend with games against Butler University and Wright State University. The Panthers will hit the road to take on both foes, stopping in Indianapolis, Ind., Friday before heading to Dayton, Ohio, to wrap up the weekend Sunday. Game time will be 4 p.m. CST against the Bulldogs and noon CST versus the Raiders.

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Milwaukee owns a 15-9-1 record all-time against BU, with just a pair of blemishes coming in the past 11 times these two teams have squared off. Outside of a 2-1 upset loss to BU in the Horizon League tournament in 2006 and last season's 4-3 setback, UWM has outscored Friday's opponent 16-3 in those other nine games (going 8-0-1) dating back to 2001.

The Panthers own a commanding 15-5-2 lead in the all-time series with WSU and had won the past 11 matchups between the two squads before falling twice in 2008. The last Raider win prior to those matches came in a 2-1 overtime decision back in 1999. Last season, UWM fell, 1-0, in double-overtime in its regular season home finale and then lost in the league tournament opener against Wright State on the road.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
BUTLER: The Bulldogs are coming off their most successful season in nearly a decade and are already 4-1-0 in 2009 after suffering their first setback this weekend (a 2-1 loss at Ohio State). In fact, the team is ranked No. 10 in the NSCAA Great Lakes regional poll this week and also is receiving votes in the College Soccer News poll as well. Head coach Kelly Findley has eight starters back from last year's 13-3-4 squad, which finished second in the Horizon League and earned a top 25 national ranking. The Bulldogs' 13 wins were the most by a Butler team since 2004 and tied the fourth-highest win total in school history. BU broke into the national soccer polls at midseason last year and reached as high as No. 21 in late October. So far in 2009, Boris Gatzky leads the offense with seven points (3G/1A) and the goalkeeper combination of Nick Hegeman (2-0-0, 0.50 GAA) and Fabian Knopfler (1-1-0, 0.67 GAA) has been strong in net so far this season.

WRIGHT STATE: The Raiders are 1-4-0 overall in 2009 following a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Dayton Sept. 20. Following a 3-2 win against St. Bonaventure in the season opener, the team has dropped four straight matches. Head Coach Bryan Davis comes to WSU after four seasons at George Washington and looks to work 19 returners and nine newcomers into the mix after an 8-13-0 (3-5-0 Horizon) record a season ago. First Team All-Horizon League forward Braden Fleak is off to a slow start, with just one goal through five games. Brad Bamberger leads the offense with four points, coming on two goals. Defensively, Matt Koewler has played all 461+ minutes in goal this season, posting a 2.54 GAA and 32 saves on a .711 save percentage.

HORIZON LEAGUE WONDERS
UWM has won the Horizon League regular season title in four of the past eight seasons, posting a win-loss record of 40-12-3 in that span. The Panthers became the first-ever Horizon League school to win four-straight soccer titles (2002-05), breaking Evansville's old standard of three consecutive (1989-91).

THE PANTHER INVITATIONAL
The team was unable to take advantage of the home crowd, going 0-2 in the 36th Annual Panther Invitational over the weekend. Following a 2-0 loss at the hands of UCSB, the Panthers found themselves down 2-0 at the half to Oakland Sunday. After storming back to tie the game at 2-2 on goals by juniors Robert Refai and Greg Rosenthal, the team could not capitalize on the momentum in falling, 3-2, to the Golden Grizzlies. Rosenthal and freshman Robert Jarosz were named to the all-tournament team, while the Gauchos won the team title with their 1-0-1 record.

FINALLY HOME
Milwaukee's opening-round game in the Panther Invitational Sept. 18 marked the 37th in program history. With the tough loss to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara, the team is now 24-9-4 in such games at Engelmann Field.

QUICK HITTER
When sophomore Ross Van Osdol opened the game against Cal State Northridge Sept. 13 with an early goal, it marked one of the fastest to start a game in recent seasons. The only two that have been scored earlier than his 92-second tally in the past six years are Travis Phillips goal against Yale in 2007 (just 55 seconds in) and Dale Weiler's strike against Cleveland State in 2004 (90 seconds).

EXHIBITION SEASON REDUX
Milwaukee came through the 2009 exhibition season at a perfect 2-0, but both of its opponents made them work for the victories. In each game, UWM trailed well into the second half by a score of 1-0, only to net two goals each time en route to the 2-1 win.

Down 1-0 until the 61st minute against SIU Edwardsville Aug. 19, freshman Andrew Wiedabach and sophomore Evan Bartzis struck for goals at the 60:37 and 75:26 marks of the second half. Then, against Whitewater Aug. 23, sophomores Eric Frazier and Zach Funk netted a pair of goals within 38 seconds of each other in the 69th minute to prevail. Sophomore Sam Alexander and freshman John Shakon worked one half each in both games, each finishing with a 1.00 GAA. Offensively, UWM tallied 36 shots in the two contests, with Frazier leading the way with 10 attempts and junior Greg Rosenthal second with five.

THE YOUNG GUNS
Eric Frazier, Evan Bartzis and Ross Van Osdol made nice impressions in their first season, accounting for 11 of UWM's 17 goals on the year. If you look at the stats, five of Milwaukee's top six point producers in 2008 were freshmen or sophomores. Frazier had a team-high 16 points (6G/4A) while Bartzis was tied for second with six points (3G) with senior Adam Skalecki (2G/2A). Van Osdol (2G/1A) and then-sophomores Peter Sanger (2G/1A) and Robert Refai (1G/3A) tied for fourth with five points each.

TOP OF THE CHARTS
Speaking of Eric Frazier, one look at the scoring chart shows the production he helped bring to the offense last season. He led the team with 16 points in 19 games, a point total that ranked tied for seventh in the Horizon League (his six goals were seventh and four assists tied for10th). The 16 points were more than any player recorded in 2007 and his four assists also topped the three helpers the 2007 team leader finished with.

His goal, assist and point totals were the highest for a UWM freshman since Antou Jallow scored 16 points in eight goals in 2001. His six goals were also the most for any UWM player since Neil Dombrowski had nine in 2005.

200 SOUNDS GOOD
The Panthers love to play at Engelmann Field and their record over the years proves just that. Their all-time ledger at the field entering the 2009 campaign is 197-75-22, an impressive .710 winning percentage. With seven games on the home slate this fall, looks like UWM will be celebrating victory No. 200 on its storied home field at some point this season.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
For the first time in recent memory, a large class of seniors will not be on the field for Milwaukee this fall. Just two seniors dot the roster in 2009, with Nicholas Gerard-Larson and Nkuti Ndely looking to close out their careers on a high note. UWM will definitely be a young squad this season. In addition to the two seniors, the roster features just five juniors. In total, 22 of the 29 student-athletes on the roster are sophomores (13) or freshman (9).

LEANING ON EXPERIENCE
This year's sophomore class definitely took advantage of the opportunity a year ago. One of the benefits that last season brought was the great amount of experience that the underclassmen were able to take in. Freshman accounted for 80 starts in the field last year, including three players that had 15 or more starts on the campaign. Overall, UWM returns 12 players that had six or more starts in 2008, including six that had 10 or more: sophomore Tony Maxey (18 starts), junior Greg Rosenthal (17), senior Nicholas Gerard-Larson (17), sophomore Eric Frazier (16), junior Peter Sanger (16) and sophomore Aaron Gibbons (10).

MORE WITH COACH COLEMAN
This season there will be a new weekly feature with UWM's head coach. Look for a weekly audio podcast of the "Jon Coleman Show", as we sit down weekly with Jon to revisit the week that was and talk about the upcoming schedule. The first episode will be available Aug. 31 and will follow with a new episode every Monday during the course of the 2009 campaign. The show is available as a link off the main UWM website page or directly at www.uwmpanthers.cstv.com/genrel/podcasts.

TIME WARNER TELEVISION SCHEDULE FOR 2009
The Panthers will have three of their games televised this fall on Time Warner Sports 32, beginning with the season opener against Marquette to be aired live. In addition to that contest, the Milwaukee games at Green Bay Oct. 30 and home against Wisconsin Nov. 5 will also be aired on TWC Sports 32. Matt Menzl and Sean Reti are scheduled to do all games. Replay dates and times of future games will be announced at a later date.

ON TAP
UWM will continue the conference season with a weekend homestand, welcoming Cleveland State and Detroit to Engelmann Field on the weekend. The Panthers and Vikings will kick off 7 p.m. Friday and then Milwaukee will play the Titans at 1 p.m. Sunday.