Panthers Host Three Crucial Games This WeekOct. 25, 2004 MILWAUKEE - Complete Release in PDF Format
Scouting The Opposition Marquette: The Golden Eagles of Marquette University enter the week 4-9-1 overall after posting an impressive 1-0 victory over No. 11 South Florida on Sunday. MU has scored 17 goals on the season and allowed 23 despite outshooting the opposition 212-153 on the season. Senior forward Chris Lee leads the Golden Eagle attack with 17 points on eight goals and an assist while sophomore Matt Blouin is second with 11 points (5g, 1a). Freshman Andy Kroll has played the last two games in net for MU and he has a 2.41 GAA in seven games this season. Marquette is coached by 14th-year head man Steve Adlard. Butler: The Butler Bulldogs are enjoying one of their finest seasons in recent years and will enter Friday's game with an 11-4-1 overall record and 5-0-0 mark in league play. After dropping three of their first four games, the Bulldogs have gone on to win 10 of their last 12 games. Junior Scott Olson and senior Cory Eddington lead the offensive charge while senior Evan Reinhardt has been solid between the pipes for Butler. Olson has 22 points on the season with eight goals and six assists while Eddington has 17 points on seven markers and three assists. Reinhardt is 6-3-0 on the year in goal with a 1.08 GAA and 43 saves in nine games. Butler is coached by fourth-year head coach Joe Sochacki. Cleveland State: The Vikings of Cleveland State University have struggled some in 2004 and enter the week 5-9-2 overall but 0-5-1 in league action. The Vikings, who have dropped three straight contests, are led in scoring by senior forward Spencer Lappin. Lappin has scored seven goals on the season to go with two assists for 16 points. Amir Kettani, a senior, is in his third-season as CSU's starting keeper and owns a solid 1.66 goals against average to go with 86 saves and a 0.775 save percentage. Cleveland State is coached by fifth-year head man Pete Curtis. Three On Tap To Finish The Regular Season The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team will face its busiest week of the season in the final week of the 2004 regular season. The Panthers, who have won four consecutive games for the first time this season, will bring a 7-4-3 record into the three-game homestand. UWM will open play by hosting crosstown rival Marquette on Tuesday (Oct. 26) in the 32nd installment of the Milwaukee Cup game. The Panthers will then host a critical Horizon League game on Friday (Oct. 29) when league-leading Butler comes to town before finishing off the regular season with a Sunday (Oct. 31) contest with Cleveland State. The Tuesday and Friday games will begin at 3:00 p.m. at Engelmann Field while Sunday's contest is slated for a noon kickoff. Rollin', Rollin', Rollin' The UWM men's soccer team sure has picked the right time of the season to be playing its best soccer. The Panthers, winners of a season-best four straight games, now sit at 7-4-3 on the year, the highwater mark of the campaign. Milwaukee has outscored the opposition 14-2 during the stretch which includes two season-best five-goal games. The Panthers went 2-0 this past week thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Northern Illinois on Friday before scoring four second-half goals in a 5-0 blanking of Loyola in Chicago on Sunday. Records Are Made To Be Broken The Antou Jallow goal watch is now serious business. With two more goals on Sunday, Jallow now has nine goals on the season and 51 in his career. The career number is good for second-place on UWM's all-time list and is just two behind the 53 scored by all-time leader Tony Sanneh from 1990-93. Furthermore, the 51 career markers are good for second all-time in Horizon League history and just three behind the 54 scored by Detroit's Jorge Ferriera from 1995-98. Jallow already holds UWM single-game and single-season goal records with four (10/2/02) and 24 (2002), respectively. Controlling The Home Turf Sure, its nice to play at home, but for the UWM men's soccer team the fact that the final three regular season games will be played at home is even more important. Here's the evidence: since the 2001 campaign the Panthers have posted a 33-4-1 record at Engelmann Field and a 17-1-1 record against Horizon League competition. The lone loss came against Butler in the 2001 league championship game while the tie came last season versus UIC. In addition, the Panthers have won eight straight postseason games at Engelmann. Reserves Fill In Nicely When senior forward Cliff Ellsworth went down with a season-ending knee injury versus Wright State questions about production from that spot became paramount. Well, if Sunday's game was any indication, it looks as if that wont be a problem. Freshman Dan Horst began the scoring output from that position on Friday when he scored his fourth goal of the season, and game-winner, in the 1-0 victory over Northern Illinois. Then, on Sunday, freshman Martin Castro notched his first career goal and added his first career assist in the 5-0 win at Loyola while Craig Mallace scored the final goal of the game and the third of his career. For the weekend, Ellsworth's replacements combined for four goals, two assists, and ten points. Mickschl Fires A Pair Of Shutouts With each passing game UWM sophomore Eric Mickschl establishes himself more and more in goal for head coach Louis Bennett. Mickschl posted a pair of shutouts this past weekend to up his season record in goal to 5-3-1. Furthermore, the Glendale-native lowered his season's goals against average to a league-best 0.68, which is also good for 12th-best in the nation. Mickschl made nine saves on the weekend in the two games and has allowed just one goal in three Horizon League contests, good for a 0.33 GAA. Senior Salute Set For Sunday With UWM more than likely hosting at least one Horizon League Tournament game, Sunday's game with Cleveland State will not be the last time the Panther seniors play a home game. However, before the contest with Cleveland State, head coach Louis Bennett and his staff will honor the eight seniors on the 2004 roster. The class, which is looking to become the first class in school history to advance to the NCAA Tournament season all four years, is also the winningest class in school history with 58 victories and five ties in just 80 games. The seniors honored on Sunday will be Antou Jallow, Khaled El-Ahmad, Adam Gehrt, Kirk Thode, Trent Furtsch, Chris Brisson, Ian Hoelker, and Cliff Ellsworth. First Place On The Line
While each team still will have a game to play on Sunday, Friday's battle with Butler will mark a showdown between the top two teams in the Horizon League. Furthermore, the winner of the game will be the odds on favorite to the top seed, and subsequent hosting rights to the 2004 Horizon League Tournament. Butler currently sits atop the league standings with a 5-0 record and will travel to UW-Green Bay following Friday's battle. Milwaukee is second with a 4-1 mark and will host Cleveland State on Sunday. If UWM defeats Butler each team will have identical records but the Panthers will hold the tiebreaker due to the head-to-head result. If Butler wins or if there is a tie, the Bulldogs will hold the edge in the battle for first place. Milwaukee was picked to win the league in the preseason coaches poll while Butler was picked for second.
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