Rivalry Week On Tap for #10 Panther Men's SoccerComplete Release in PDF Format
Oct. 21, 2002
"Rivalry Week" On Tap For Panthers It's rivalry week on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the school's No. 10 men's soccer team will take center stage for a large portion of the contests. The Panthers will get things started on Tuesday (Oct. 22) when cross-town rival Marquette University comes to Engelmann Field for a 3 p.m. contest. On Friday (Oct. 25), longtime Horizon League foe University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will come to town for a 3 p.m. game before Cleveland State University finishes the week with a Sunday (Oct. 27) game set for noon. The Louis Bennett File Heading the UWM men's soccer program for the seventh season as head mentor and tenth in the program is head coach Louis Bennett. A veteran of the United States professional ranks, Bennett boasts a career 84-47-8 record in seven-plus seasons, including last season's 18-5-0 campaign. The 18 victories mark the most ever in school-history as Bennett garnered Horizon League and Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year honors. Under Bennett's watch, UWM has won two conference titles while advancing to the NCAA Tournament once. Bennett is assisted on the sidelines by six-year aide Stan Anderson and first-year man Jon Coleman. Anderson has been Bennett's assistant since he took the job while Coleman, a former Panther, has spent time volunteering with the program. Scouting The Opposition - Rivalry Week Marquette - The Golden Eagles enter the week 6-6-0 on the season but have been playing good soccer of late, winning four of their last five games. MU is currently led in scoring by junior Derek Hernandez with 15 points on six goals and three assists. Meanwhile, senior Eric Marshall has scored 12 points on five goals and two assists. This will be the 30th meeting all-time between the schools, with UWM holding a 21-6-2 edge in the series. UW-Green Bay - UWGB has struggled a bit in 2002 and enter the week 3-10-0 overall and 1-4 in Horizon play. On the year, the Phoenix have scored seven goals as a team, two each coming from sophomore Kyle Sillars and senior Clint Connealy. UWM holds a 14-10-3 edge in the 27 matchups between the two rivals. Cleveland State - The Vikings have been one of the strongest teams in the league in 2002, with an 8-7-0 overall record and 5-1-0 league marking. CSU features a high-powered, balanced offensive attack en route to 33 goals scored in 15 games. Sophomore Stephen Ademolu leads the Vikes with 21 points with nine goals while Adrian Balc has contributed seven goals and 17 points. Bring On All Challengers At this point of the 2002 season the opponent doesn't seem to matter much to the Milwaukee men's soccer team. The Panthers ran their winning streak to 11 games with a pair of wins over regionally ranked opponents this past weekend. UWM disposed of rival Wisconsin, the No. 7 team in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll, 1-0 in overtime on Wednesday. Milwaukee then disposed of its second regionally ranked foe in as many games with a 2-1 win at No. 10 Detroit on Sunday. Streaking Panthers Roll On It is now 11 and counting for the UWM men's soccer team. With two more victories this past weekend, the Panthers have now posted 11 consecutive wins after starting the season with a loss and a tie. The 11 wins are good for second-best in school history, trailing only the 1985 squad, which started the season with 12 straight victories before losing five of its last eight contests. Streak Among Best In The Country Not only is the current UWM winning streak among the best in school annals, it is currently among one of the best streaks in Division I men's soccer. With 11 consecutive victories, Milwaukee is tied with Indiana University for the second longest streak in the nation. The Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina lead the country, having won 13 consecutive matches. Jallow Back On Track After a span of three games without scoring a goal, UWM striker Antou Jallow is back on track. The Swede scored a pair of goals this weekend to improve his team and league-best total to 15 on the season. Jallow scored the game-winning goal in overtime versus Wisconsin before getting the Panthers on the board with a tally versus Detroit. Antou Among The Nation's Best With 15 goals and five assists on the year, Antou Jallow is among the top scorers in all of Division I soccer. The sophomore ranks second in the country with 15 goals in 12 games and second in points with 35. Jallow's 15 goals are already good for a fifth-place tie on the UWM single-season list. Swenby Saves The Day With starting goalkeeper Chris Dadaian taking the day off, UWM reserve keeper Brad Swenby made his presence felt in Sunday's 2-1 win at Detroit. Swenby, making his fifth start of the season, stopped a Titan penalty kick in the early portion of the seond half. The PK stop kept the game tied at one and allowed the Panthers to score the game winner later on. Swenby finished the match with seven saves in 90 minutes. Panthers Play For League Supremecy While the Milwaukee men's soccer team will still have one more league match after this week, Nov. 1 versus Butler, a pair of league wins this week would go a long way towards clinching the league title. With a 4-0-0 Horizon record, UWM can go to 6-0-0 with the Butler match to go. If Butler, who is 3-1 in the league, goes unbeaten before the Nov. 1 game, then all the Panthers will need is a tie to clinch the league championship. UWM Eearns Best-Ever Ranking Is this the best UWM men's soccer team ever? Well, if you read the NSCAA/Adidas college soccer reasons then you might be convinced. The Panthers were ranked 10th in the country in the latest Division I soccer poll released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The ranking is the best in school history, bettering a #11 marking tied last week and by the 1980 team.
On The Record With Louis Bennett
UWM men's soccer coach Louis Bennett on the upcoming rivalry week:
"I think it's extremely exciting for the fans to see us play at home and against teams that we obviously have history playing against. Everyone will be mistaken if they think the games will mean more to Marquette and Green Bay. For the fans, you can lump these games together. But we can't. We have to take each game individually. There will be a huge amount of interest on all levels."
|
