Freshman Lead Milwaukee Past Gonzaga, 2-1
MILWAUKEE - Freshmen Nick Moon and Reid Stevenson netted goals and junior goalkeeper Agustin Rey made six saves in his debut to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Gonzaga University Sunday at Engelmann Stadium.
The Panthers (3-1-0) led early but the Bulldogs (0-3-0) did rally to even the score before halftime. Moon's 66th-minute game-winner provided the difference to earn the win at the 40th Panther Invitational.
"It's a great result, although I think we made it hard on ourselves today," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "We got off to a really good start and I liked the way we were playing. We created some really good opportunities and I think if we would have finished a couple of them - and I think we should have - it could have been a different game. We had a couple of really nice goals, had some ups and downs, but got a good result and I thought we played well."
Rey made his UWM debut after redshirting a season ago. He was credited with six saves on the day, including a diving stop in the 86th minute that iced the victory.
"He had a good performance," Kelderman said. "We have a new line back there and a couple of injuries. But our goalkeepers are very good. The minute one isn't sharp, we feel very comfortable with giving someone else a crack at it. He had a good performance today."
Moon netted his second game-winner of the season at the 65:08 mark, finishing after a nice pass from senior Laurie Bell found him open from the left wing.
Stevenson headed in the opening tally on a well-placed serve off the foot of senior Luke Goodnetter and nearly had a second goal in the 58th minute. He corralled a loose ball in the box, only to see an impressive backline clearance at the post by the final Bulldog defender send it away.
"We knew we were going to rely on these guys coming in," Kelderman said. "We had high expectations for them and they are delivering right now. It's a team effort, starting from the back. Everyone is doing a good job and providing opportunities for the guys up top ... so far so good."
Gonzaga caught a break to equalize when a cleared corner kick found the foot of Graison Le, who blasted it in from the top of the box in the 28th minute.
The Panthers nearly opened up the scoring quickly. Bell played a through ball to freshman Petter Ingebrigtsen, but his final touch was saved by the Bulldog keeper in the fifth minute.
Ingebrigtsen's one-timer on a pass from Moon went just wide in the 23rd minute as well.
Rey needed a diving save to keep the ball out of the net in the 37th minute and played well all day. In addition to the great save he made in the final minutes, he also directed the defense well as Gonzaga had three corner kicks in the final two minutes of action.
On the day, UWM ended with the 16-to-14 advantage in shots, including 9-7 in shots on target. Gonzaga did earn seven of the 12 corner kicks and was whistled for 19 of the 28 fouls.
Stevenson paced the Milwaukee attack with four shots. Ingebrigtsen and Bell had three each and junior Patrick Ruhland also had an assist on the day's first score.
Marquette did earn the team title at the Panther Invitational, finishing 2-0 with a 1-0 defeat of Oregon State over at Valley Fields.
Up next, the Panthers embark on the longest roadtrip of the season, heading to the Washington DC area for the Capital Cup. The team will play George Mason Friday and American Sunday.
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