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Nov. 8, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS - The No. 8 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team continued its impressive run through the Horizon League as nine different players and head coach Louis Bennett were honored as the league office announed the 2002 league postseason awards winners here Friday (Nov. 8). The Panthers, who won the Horizon League regular season with a 15-1-1 overall mark and perfect 7-0-0 showing in conference games, placed four players on the first-team squad, three second-teamers, and two All-Newcomer selections as well as claiming the league's Player and Coach of the Year awards.

Sophomore Antou Jallow, the league's leading scorer and the fourth leading scorer in the country, was named the Horizon League Player of the Year while head coach Louis Bennett earned won Co-Coach of the Year honors along with Cleveland State's Pete Curtis. Jallow, who was also named to the First-Team All-League squad, has 19 goals and and 43 points on the year and is tied for first in school history for goals in a season. Bennett, a repeat winner of the Coach of the Year award, has won 33 games in the last two seasons. With a 15-1-1 mark this season, UWM has the longest current winning streak in the country and the second-best school winning percentage in all of Division I soccer.

In addition to Jallow, UWM had three other first-team selections in Chad Dombrowski, Tighe Dombrowski, and goalkeeper Chris Dadaian. Chad Dombrowski, the older brother of Tighe and All-Newcomer Team member Neil, is a repeat first-team performer, this time making the squad as a defender. No. 23 is currently fourth on the team in scoring with 14 points on five goals and four assists.

Tighe Dombrowski, a junior midfielder, also earned his second consecutive All-Horizon League First-Team honor and has scored eight points on the season with two goals and four assists. Dombrowski, is the rock of the Milwaukee attack, controlling play in the midfield on both the offensive and defensive ends while wreaking havoc on opponent game plans.

Meanwhile Dadaian, another repeat winner, has rewritten the UWM record books this season thanks to a 12-0-0 record in goal, a .875 save percentage and a 0.33 goals against average. The senior netminder is first all-time in school history with 20 career shutouts and his current GAA is good for second in the nation.

In addition to UWM's four first-team honorees, three more players were honored as Bobby Lish, Khaled El-Ahmad and Evan Richardson were named to the All-Horizon League Second-Team squad. Furthermore, junior Julian Chang and freshman Neil Dombrowski were named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team, giving the Panthers a conference-best nine award winners in 2002.

Lish, a junior, has emerged on the scene as a crafty, flashy offensive player, as evidenced by his school-record five assists in the Panthers' 7-0 win over Cleveland State. The forward is third on the team in scoring with 18 points while his 10 assists tops on both the team and the league charts. Furthermore, with 18 points in 2002, Lish has scored five more points in 2002 as he had coming into the season.

El-Ahmad and Richardson, who along with Chad Dombrowski anchor UWM's league-leading defense, earned second-team honors, the second such honor for El-Ahmad. El-Ahmad, a sophomore, tallied his first point of the season in a 2-0 win over Butler, while Richardson boasts six points on the year with two goals and two assists on the season. More imporantly, however, is the fact that the duo have helped lead the UWM defense that has allowed 10 goals all season and only three in conference play.

Chang and Neil Dombrowski were named to the 11-person All-Newcomer Team after providing support in the UWM midfield all season long. Chang, a junior transfer from Eastern Illinois University, is fifth on the team in scoring with 12 points (four goals and four assists), while Neil Dombrowski, a freshman and brother of Chad and Tighe, is sixth on the team with 11 points thanks to four goals and three assists.

Milwaukee will take its 15-1-1 overall record and No. 8 national ranking into the weekend as the No. 1 seed in the upcomoing Horizon League Tournament. UWM will host No. 8 seed Loyola in a 12 p.m. quarterfinal Saturday (Nov. 9) at Engelmann Field.