CHICAGO - Kelly Lewers and Krissy Dorre both scored to help lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Loyola University-Chicago Thursday night at Loyola Soccer Park.

The Panthers (3-6-0) actually trailed early in the match, but answered back with two goals in a seven-minute span to take the lead early in the first half and never look back.

Loyola now falls to 3-6-0 on the year.

We're glad to get the win, Milwaukee head coach Greg Henschel said. "It's a good result. It's a tough environment to play here, there's no doubt about that. It wasn't the most assertive start we had, but we had a good response after conceding the early goal. We just keep working to clean things up, get better each day and just continue to be more consistent.

Loyola got an early break as UWM was whistled for a handball in the box. Valerie Gonyo converted the PK for her second goal of the year to give LU the early 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee came right back, however. Cassidy Blanchard sent a beautiful diagonal ball from the back line to a streaking Lewers, who one-timed her shot far post to beat the keeper and knot the game up at 1-1 just 15:32 into the contest.

Dorre then made it 2-1 for the Panthers just seven minutes later. Dorre had a great individual effort, dribbling around two defenders in the middle of the field before blasting a shot from just outside the top of the box and into the top corner for her second of the year.

From there it was all Milwaukee.

Dorre had another rip midway through the second half that looked like it was going in the bottom corner but a diving save by senior keeper Monica Gonyo kept the score the same.

Early in the second half, Amy Kauffung had a go with a shot through traffic inside the box but Gonyo again made a diving save.

Given an early lead, the Panther defense did its job the rest of the way. Loyola took eight shots on the day, but most were from distance and easily stopped by Paige Lincicum, who made six saves on the night.

"Our defending is improving," Henschel said. "Our team shape - we're becoming more and more connected each mach. I'm happy to see that. I think we could have been a little more assertive early in the match, but we played our way into it defensively and did a better job as the game went on and that clearly carried us through the second half."

It's now on to conference play for Milwaukee, as they play host to UIC next Wednesday at 7 p.m. from Engelmann Stadium. This will be UIC's first ever Horizon League match as they just added women's soccer this year. The game will also be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.

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