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Panthers Battle UIC For Spot In League Championship Friday

Winner will play for NCAA Tournament invite Sunday

Nov. 12, 2007

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team will begin the quest for its fifth league tournament crown in the past six seasons when the Panthers play UIC Friday. The semifinal game in the Horizon League Tournament will be played at Loyola Soccer Park in Chicago, starting at 7:30 p.m.

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Milwaukee had a bye into the semifinals as the No. 2 seed and watched the action on the field over the weekend. The seeds barely held up, as No. 4 Green Bay defeated No. 9 Cleveland State in a penalty kick shootout in round one before outlasting No. 5 Butler, 1-0, in overtime. No. 3 seed UIC then took it to No. 6 Wright State, winning 4-0 on its home field to set up the semifinal match-ups.

The Panthers and Flames played during the regular season Oct. 21, with UIC prevailing, 2-0, on a pair of goals by Matt Spiess.

With a victory, Milwaukee would play in the Horizon League Tournament Championship Sunday, again at Loyola, scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start. The other semifinal contest features the host and No. 1 seeded Ramblers (10-4-4) against the No. 4 seeded Green Bay Phoenix (10-4-6). That game will be played first on Friday, starting at 5 p.m. The UWM/UIC game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start, but could get pushed back if the GB/LU match goes into overtime.

If you cannot make it to the game, follow along on Gametracker on the UWM website at www.uwmpanthers.com. You can also watch the games on the Horizon League Network. Log on to www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv, provide an e-mail address and password, and you'll be taken to the match you're looking for.

Green Bay/Loyola
http://horizonleaguenetwork.tv/live.aspx?ScheduleID=951
UIC/Milwaukee
http://horizonleaguenetwork.tv/live.aspx?ScheduleID=952
Championship
http://horizonleaguenetwork.tv/live.aspx?ScheduleID=685

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
ILLINOIS-CHICAGO: The Flames got hot at the right time, going to overtime to beat Valparaiso and regular-season champion Loyola by identical 1-0 scores to secure the No. 3 seed for the Horizon League Tournament. They topped it off with a convincing 4-0 win over Wright State Sunday, getting three second-half goals, including two from Pavle Dundjer.

Standing in at 9-5-5 overall, UIC has scored 29 goals and allowed just 13 to this point in the season. They have outshot their opponents, 263-130, and have not allowed an overtime goal in eight matches that went extra time this season (3-0-5 in those matches). The defense has a 0.64 goals against average, including a 0.58 mark from full-time starter Jovan Bubonja. Offensively, Cesar Zambrano leads the squad with 17 points, including team-high marks with six goals and five assists. Matt Spiess (5G/2A) is second with 12 points.

Milwaukee leads the all-time series, 16-9-4, but the Flames have had the upper hand of late. The Panthers have gone just 0-3-2 in the past five match-ups dating back to the 2003 season.

HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Panthers were upset by Butler in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament last season, marking the first time since the 2000 season that the team did not play in the championship game. Milwaukee has posted a record of 15-3 in league tournament play since the 2000 season, including perfect 3-0 runs through the event in the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 campaigns. They are not unfamiliar with accomplishing the task away from Engelmann Field either, winning the 2005 crown on the road in Detroit.

If the team claims the title this weekend, it will mark its sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the past seven seasons.

LeWANG CUP GETS AWAY
The Panthers caught a bad break last Tuesday afternoon against Northern Illinois, as an own goal late in the contest was the only score in a 1-0 loss. The Huskies maintained possession of the LeWang Cup with the victory in what was the final regular season match for both teams.

Scoreless well into the second half, the Panthers caught a break in the 70th minute when NIU's Luis De La Cerda missed a penalty kick after a foul was called on a Milwaukee defender in the box. UWM looked to use that momentum, but the tide turned on the decisive play just eight minutes later. A foul was called just prior to the goal, setting up a 25-yard free kick for Northern Illinois. De La Cerda took the free kick, floating one in front of the goal box. The ball went off freshman Raphael Martinez in the opposite direction of where junior goalkeeper Grant Fernstrum was, deflecting into the back of the net. Milwaukee had a couple of chances in the final 10 minutes, but could not break through for the equalizer. Junior Colin Baker got free behind the defense with just over two minutes left, but his 15-yard shot was saved.

SENIOR CLASS READY TO RETURN TO FORM
The seniors on the 2007 squad will look to go out on a high note, and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament is what they have in mind. After going to the second round of the tournament in each of their first two seasons, the seniors will look to improve on their 2-1-1 NCAA ledger in four games with a return trip this fall.

DOMBROWSKI LEADING THE WAY
Entering his senior year, Zeke Dombrowski had career totals of one goal, five assists and seven points. Just past the midway point in 2007, he had already eclipsed those numbers for goals and points. Entering play this week, he leads the team in goals (4), points (11), shots (49), shots on goal (18), minutes played (1,643) and is tied for the team lead in assists (3). His points have come at vital times as well, assisting on the tying goal against Wisconsin Oct. 10, netting the winning goal against Wright State Oct. 7 and assisting the winner vs. Detroit Oct. 12.

He has been busy in the classroom as well, earning Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors earlier this season. He was also named Nov. 1 to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He has moved on to the national ballot later this month.

OVERTIME JINX CONTINUES
In settling for a 1-1 draw with Marquette Oct. 31, UWM saw a streak get extended once again that they would like to see end: the team is now 0-7-10 in its past 17 overtime matches. They were 0-2-2 in 2006, 0-3-5 in 2005 and lost in extra time in the final match of the 2004 season (2-1 at UCSB in the NCAA Tournament). The Panthers last OT win came on Oct. 31, 2004, a 1-0 win over Cleveland State.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS IN LEAGUE PLAY
After a slow start to the 2007 season, the Panthers righted the ship in time for the start of Horizon League play. In their eight conference games, the team gave up just five goals (posting four clean sheets) for a team goals against average of 0.61.

They held edges in every statistical category: goals (9-5), assists (8-5), shots (95-85), shots on goal (41-31) and corner kicks (48-38). Five different players accounted for the five game-winning goals: seniors Zeke Dombrowski (Oct. 7 vs. Wright State), Ken Ogorzalek (Oct. 5 vs. Butler) and Martin Castro (Oct. 14 vs. Cleveland State) and juniors Colin Baker (Oct. 12 vs. Detroit) and Adam Skalecki (Oct. 27 vs. Green Bay).

MILWAUKEE RUNS DEEP
One major strength of the 2007 team is the exceptional depth displayed at each position. So far this year, 24 different players have seen time, with 22 of them earning at least one start. Only two players, seniors Zeke Dombrowski and Tenzin Rampa, have started all 19 games with six others starting at least 13 times each. Fourteen different Panthers have notched at least one point this season with 10 different players scoring at least one goal and five different players notching game-winners. Dombrowski leads the team in goals with four and points with 11, while also tying for the team lead with three assists. Junior Colin Baker and freshman Robert Refai both sit second place with six points each.

SENIOR SALUTE
The match against Loyola Oct. 18 served as Senior Night. Seven seniors - Steve Bode, Martin Castro, Zeke Dombrowski, Dan Horst, Chris Lins, Ken Ogorzalek and Tenzin Rampa were honored in a pregame ceremony before playing in their final regular season home game in a UWM uniform. With the bye the team earned with its second-place league finish, the match also turned out to be the final home game of the year.

TOUGH OPPONENTS
The 0-8 start looked bad on paper, but a closer look reveals that five of UWM's 2007 opponents are ranked, or have been ranked, in the national polls this season. UC Santa Barbara, Tulsa, Gonzaga, Dartmouth and Cal Poly have all been ranked at some point this year. Additionally, the eight teams Milwaukee lost to own a combined 72-38-24 (.625) record this season, including an 12-2-2 ledger by current No. 10 Tulsa, an 11-3-3 mark by current No. 13 UC Santa Barbara, 10-4-2 by No. 25 Dartmouth and 9-3-3 by Cal Poly.

SO CLOSE, SO FAR
If it feels like the Panthers have been in every match but can't catch a few necessary breaks, it could almost be considered a factual statement. After a 1-0 defeat against Northern Illinois Nov. 6, the trend sounds familiar: 16 of the last 19 UWM losses dating back to last season have been by just one goal.

Last year, the Panthers overall record consisted of nine losses, but eight of them were one-goal setbacks. Three of them came at the hands of Top 25 teams: 1-0 to No. 2 SMU Aug. 27, 2-1 to No. 6 Washington in overtime Sept. 10 and 1-0 to No. 12 UIC Oct. 3.

FRESH FACES
The Panthers newcomers continue to make an impression on the line-up, as 10 have seen time on the field in 2007, including eight who have made starts. That trend continued against Cleveland State Oct. 14, as Elliott Dunn, Greg Rosenthal, Van Hong, Ben Chavers and Raphael Martinez were all in the starting line-up. They've handled the pressure of big games too: Rosenthal, Martinez and Calvin Mai were in the starting line-up against UC Santa Barbara Sept. 7, playing the defending national champions.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE FOR MARTINEZ
Speaking of the newcomers, Raphael Martinez was given some national recognition in the preseason when College Soccer News tabbed him as one of its "100 Freshman To Keep An Eye On In 2007". The website noted his playing for the club team Chicago Magic, his 17 goals and seven assists as a senior and that he was an NSCAA Youth All-American.

SLOW START NO WORRY
The Panthers may have been 0-8 for the first time ever, but proved again that a slow start is no indication of how the season will go at UWM. The team started 1-2-2 in 2004, only to finish the season at 14-5-3 overall. A 3-3 start in 2003 led to a 16-6-1 campaign, while a 2-3 start in 2000 led to a record of 11-9-1. UWM is now 5-2-3 after the 0-8 start in 2007.

Also, in 2002, UWM did not have a victory after two games (0-1-1) but went on to produce a program-best record of 19-2-1.

HOME COOKING
Despite a 2-3-2 mark at Engelmann in 2007, the Panthers still rank right up there with the best in the country when it comes to home-field advantage. In 2006, that was no different, as the Panthers posted back-to-back shutouts to open the home slate and finished 7-2-1. Since the start of the 2001 season, UWM has turned Engelmann Field into a place visiting teams do not want to see on their schedule. They have gone 52-8-3 on their home pitch in that time, including a 13-2 mark in postseason play and a perfect 2-0 mark in NCAA Tournament action.

THE DRIVE FOR 400
The Panthers hit a significant milestone in their program history Oct. 12 against Detroit: all-time victory No. 400. UWM entered play in 2007 with an all-time mark of 397-222-53, a .635 winning percentage.

MILESTONE PROGRAM WINS:
1: Marquette, 4-1 (9/22/73)
50: UW-Green Bay, 4-0 (10/7/78)
100: Northern Illinois, 4-3 (11/6/82)
150: Cleveland State, 2-1 (10/18/87)
200: Michigan State, 4-0 (10/13/91)
250: Cleveland State, 5-0 (10/15/95)
300: Loyola (MD), 2-0 (9/17/00)
350: Detroit, 3-0 (9/28/03)
400: Detroit, 1-0 (10/12/07)

PANTHERS IN THE POLLS
The Panthers were picked by league coaches to place third in the Horizon League regular season, according to the results of the preseason poll announced Aug. 23 by the league office. Milwaukee has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in five of the past six seasons, reaching the second round in the last four it appeared (2002-05). It has compiled a league record of 34-5-3 in that time.

UIC, the regular season champion in 2006, took the top spot this year with 64 points and eight first place votes (all possible). Green Bay edged out UWM for second, compiling 53 points (and one first place vote) to the 48 that the Panthers received. This marks just the second time in the past six years that the Panthers were not chosen as the favorite. In 2006, they were tabbed for a second place finish.

1. UIC (8 first place votes) - 64 pts.
2. Green Bay (1) - 53
3. Milwaukee - 48
4. Loyola - 45
5. Butler - 31
6. Cleveland State - 27
7. Detroit - 25
8. Wright State - 23
9. Valparaiso - 8

ON TAP
Two victories on the weekend would send Milwaukee back to the NCAA Tournament. A loss in either game would bring the 2007 season to a close.