Nov. 3, 2009

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team closes out the regular season schedule this week when it hosts the University of Wisconsin Thursday night at Engelmenn Field. The game will have some historical significance as well, as the Panthers will be in search of all-time victory #200 on their home field. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in the annual nonconference showdown with the in-state rival Badgers.

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UWM leads the all-time series with Wisconsin by a 15-12-6 count. Prior to last year, the teams had played 220 minutes of soccer over two seasons without a winner being declared, battling to a 2-2 draw in 2007 and a 1-1 tie in 2006. The Badgers did win at home in 2008. The match will have live stats available on the Milwaukee website via GameTracker and will also be televised on a tape-delayed basis by TWC Sports 32.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
WISCONSIN: The Badgers are 6-8-2 overall and had been in first place in the Big Ten until Penn State knocked them off, 2-1, this past weekend. The team was up to no. 33 in the RPI as well.

The Badgers are not very high-scoring, having notched just 14 goals in 16 games so far this season. Taylor Waspi leads the squad with three goals, while four others have recorded two goals each. Waspi also leads the team with seven points, sharing those honors with Scott Lorenz (2G/3A).

In the nets, three players have seen time, but veteran netminder Alex Horwath has seen the majority of minutes, having played 1302:21 out of 1518:33 on the season. He carries a .756 save percentage, 4-8-2 record and 1.31 GAA. He has compiled three shutouts on the season.

THE WEEK THAT WAS
The Panthers came up short in their only game last week, as Green Bay maintained possession of the Chancellor's Cup with a 2-0 win at Aldo Santaga Stadium.

STANDING ON STANDINGS
This year, for the first time, only the top six teams in the Horizon League standings will advance to the league championship, making each league contest that much more important.

The Panthers are currently in sixth place, but were unable to clinch a postseason spot when they dropped their match at Green Bay last week. The loss clouds things a bit, as Wright State (the only team that can still catch UWM) plays its final game against Butler Nov. 7.

A WSU win would give the Raiders the final spot, while a Wright State tie would give both teams eight points. If that situation occurs, the final spot would be determined by where Butler finishes in the final standings, as the first tiebreaker (head-to-head) takes care of nothing - the Panthers and Raiders played to a 2-2 draw earlier this season. The next tiebreaker is record vs. league teams (top to bottom). As of Monday's standings, UWM is the sixth-place team.

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 was 197-75-22, an impressive .710 winning percentage. Milwaukee will be looking to notch that historic victory against the Wisconsin Badgers on Thursday night.
++No. 198: 1-0 (OT) vs. Detroit on 10/4/09++
++No. 199: 2-1 vs. Loyola on 10/10/09++

AGENT Cody Banks HAS IT ALL COVERED
Freshman Cody Banks had his hand in both scores for UWM against Loyola Oct. 10, assisting the first and netting the second. The last multi-goal game for Milwaukee (as a team) where one player had a hand in every goal was almost four seasons ago, when Neil Dombrowski scored all four goals in a 4-1 victory over Loyola.

OFFENSE COMING TOGETHER
The Panthers ended up scoring just one goal, but were a threat offensively all weekend long against Cleveland State and Detroit Oct. 2 and 4. They took 47 shots in the two games (24 against CSU and 23 against UDM), forcing opposing keepers to make 18 saves. That two-game shot total marks the most for UWM since recording 55 in games against IPFW (27 shots) and Lipscomb (28 shots) at the Panther Invitational in early September of the 2006 season.

FREE SOCCER
Milwaukee has been playing some tight games of late, leading to overtime against Wright State Sept. 27, Cleveland State Oct. 2 and Detroit Oct. 4. That marked just the third time in program history that the team has played three-straight OT matches. The last time it happened was in 1999, when games against Eastern Michigan, Marquette and Marshall went past regulation. The only other time it occurred was in 1992. UWM has never played in four-consecutive overtime matches in program history.

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 0.5 a game) and scored one goal. In 2009, he currently is tied for first on the team with six points on two goals and two assists and has recorded 27 shots through 16 matches.

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).

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's stop on the Bulldogs.

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 Panther 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.

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 was available Aug. 31 and will be followed 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 Panthers await their postseason fate by watching the scoreboard this weekend. A first-round match-up would take place Tue., Nov. 10, and would be played at the home field of the eventual third-seeded team.