Sept. 29, 2009

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team will continue Horizon League play with a weekend homestand, welcoming Cleveland State University and the University of Detroit to the friendly confines of Engelmann Field. Friday night the Vikings and Panthers will kick off at 7 p.m. The match against the Titans on Sunday is set for a 1 p.m. start. Both games will be available on GameTracker for fans to follow along online.

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UWM leads the all-time series with Detroit by a count of 11-6-3, with the teams splitting the past five meetings (2-2-1). A year ago, the Panthers scored in the 74th minute to help earn a 1-1 tie on the road. UWM has owned the series of late, winning 10 of the last 13.

The Panthers have 23 wins all-time against Cleveland State (23-13-3), one of the highest victory totals against any opponent all-time. This series, which dates back to the 1973 season, saw UWM have an impressive 18-game winning streak snapped a season ago when it fell in overtime, 2-1.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
CLEVELAND STATE: Head coach Ali Kazemaini enters his fourth year with the Vikings posting an 18-30-8 record overall. With 12 seniors returning, including six in the projected starting lineup, the team will bring experience and depth to the field this season. All-league first team honoree senior Slavisa Ubiparipovic returns up front after leading the team in goals (5), assists (4) and points (14) last season. In addition, three other 2008 All-Horizon League honorees return for the Vikings this year: Mitch Boyer (second team), Justin Mancine and Stephen Byer (both all-newcomer team).

The team will enter play Friday at 3-3-2 overall and is off to a solid 1-0-1 start in league play after beating Loyola and tying preseason favorite UIC. Ubiparipovic leads the offense with eight points and four assists, while Josh Williams has a team-best three goals. Nick Harpel has played the majority of minutes in goal, going 2-2-1 with two shutouts and a 0.77 GAA.

DETROIT: The Titans are 1-6-1 overall and 0-1-0 in league play after falling to Valparaiso, 1-0, in their only league game last week. UDM, which finished 2008 with a 4-13-3 record (1-6-1 Horizon League) return 10 players from the 2008 roster, including sophomore Adam Philp, who closed out the season tied for second in points with nine, and senior Nick Dreshaj, who dished out a team-high five assists in 2008. Following a 1-0 win over IPFW Sept. 6, the Titans have gone 0-5-1 and scored just four goals in that span, conceding 14. Dreshaj leads the way with with six points and is also tied for the team lead with his two goals and two assists. Brandon Waterstradt has a 1.81 GAA and .732 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).

DIVING INTO LEAGUE PLAY
The team played close to flawlessly Friday only to lose to Butler and then came back from a 2-0 deficit Sunday to earn a draw at Wright State. Freshman goalkeeper John Shakon played a brilliant game against the Bulldogs, making several spectacular saves while also stopping a second-minute penalty kick. However, Butler was able to beat the halftime horn and score with just 23 seconds remaining before intermission in holding on for a 1-0 victory. Playing on a wet and sloppy field Sunday, the Panthers found themselves down 2-0 late into the second half before storming back. Sophomore Zach Funk scored the second goal and assisted freshman Matthew Bewley on the other as UWM scored twice in the final 15 minutes to get to overtime and earn the tie.

WHO SAYS PK'S ARE EASY?
The penalty kick save for freshman John Shakon against Butler Sept. 25 was the first of his career and came in his second opportunity to make a stop in the situation (Cal State Northridge converted earlier this season). It was the first for a UWM keeper since Ryan Germann had one against Butler Oct. 5, 2007. After stopping three of five from the end of 2006 through the 2007 seasons, opponents had converted four-straight before Shakon.

NEW ROLE = RESULTS
Junior Greg Rosenthal is taking a bigger role in offense this season and the results are already noticeable. Coming into the season, the team captain has taken 20 shots in 37 career games (an average of just over .5 a game) and scored one goal. In 2009, he currently leads the team with five points on two goals and one assist and has recorded 10 shots through nine matches.

COMEBACK POWER
For the second time in two weeks, the team came back from a 2-0 hole in a game. Against Wright State Sept. 27, Milwaukee scored twice in a span of less then seven minutes in earning the 2-2 tie. Against Oakland, Sept. 20, it overcame a 2-0 halftime hole with unanswered tallies, only to see the Grizzlies earn the 3-2 decision.

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. 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 sophomore Eric 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
The schedule will slow down a bit for the Panthers, as just one game awaits them next week. They will host Loyola Oct. 10, in a game scheduled to start at 6 p.m. at Engelmann Field. The contest will be part of "Family Weekend" festivities on the campus.