MILWAUKEE (August 30, 2013) - Sophomore Declan Rodriguez scored just one minute into the contest and senior Austin Toth added the eventual game-winner in the first half to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Marquette University in front of a record crowd of 3,312 people Friday night at Engelmann Stadium.

"It was an exciting evening," UWM head coach Kris Kelderman said. "Obviously, a fantastic result and the environment was unbelievable. I give our guys a lot of credit. Marquette is a very good team, it's always a big game with the Milwaukee Cup on the line and our guys hung in there and finished it up. I am really proud of the guys and it was a fantastic evening."

The Panthers (1-0-0) took a 2-1 lead into the locker room against the No. 12 Golden Eagles (0-1-0), letting the defense do the rest to reclaim the Cup. Freshman goalkeeper Liam Anderson made six saves to record the victory, none bigger than on a close-range blast that he pushed over the crossbar in the 83rd minute.

"I thought he (Anderson) was fantastic," Kelderman said. "He's a freshman. He's very composed and made some great saves. He was just as good with his hands as he was with his feet. That game could have gone either way tonight based on the chances and, fortunately, it went our way."

"Not much of better debut that you could ask for, really," Anderson said. "To be honest, I got helped out a lot by the back line; they did a lot of work. I was there at the end and that was what I needed to do. We kept a clean sheet in the second half, so there was not much better that you could ask for."

With the win, not only did the Panthers reclaim the "Milwaukee Cup", but also recorded their first victory over a ranked opponent since October of 2005. Marquette came in ranked #12 in the NSCAA poll and was a consensus Top-25 squad in all of the preseason polls, ranking as high as #8 in one of them.

"We have high expectations," Kelderman said. "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we feel that we can be at a level that can make the season very special. We just have to come and make sure we perform. It started with a good result tonight. The season is just starting, so we need to keep it going from here and get better."

Rodriguez got the night started off with a bang when he netted the first goal just 60 seconds into the match. The goal was the third-fastest to ever be scored in a UWM home game.

"It was great to get the game started that way and get the early lead," Rodriguez said. "It feels very good. It's always good to score against the rival in a big game and in a big atmosphere like we had tonight. It was great to get it going right away."

After a foul along the left sideline, junior Laurie Bell stood in front of the long free kick attempt. He sent it deep to the far post, where Rodriguez was there to volley it into the open net and send the large crowd of UWM students into a frenzy behind the goal.

"The first few minutes of the game are pretty stressful for both teams," Kelderman said. "There are a lot of nerves out there on the field and we were fortunate to get a goal that early and it takes a little weight off your back."

Marquette responded in the 17th minute, helped along by a UWM miscue on defense. A long ball into the back was headed towards the UWM keeper, but C. Nortey was the first to get to it, avoiding the offsides call and beating Anderson to make it 1-1 at the 16:38 mark.

UWM kept pressuring and broke through against just 10 minutes later. Junior Rami Younes carried the ball forward down the right side, sending a long cross to the far post. Toth was there to meet it perfectly, one-timing it back to the other side of the net, hand-raised shortly after to celebrate his first goal in a Milwaukee uniform.

"Any time Rami gets the ball on the wing, he has an opportunity to take his defender," Toth said. "I had an opportunity to get free - everyone crashed the goal and I stayed around the top of the 18. He played a great ball in and a one-time finish to send it - I had a feeling it was going in."

Marquette came out the aggressor in the second half, but the UWM defense was up to the task each time. Anderson picked up a pair of impressive saves early, stopping a Nortey header just 57 seconds after intermission and then again was up to the task at the 48:04 mark on a close-range header.

Overall in the game, Marquette ended up with the 14-to-10 advantage in shots, including a 7-to-3 tally in shots on goal. UWM had four of the nine corner kicks, 18 of the 34 fouls and three of the four yellow cards. Bell led the offense with three shots. For Marquette, Bryan Ciesiulka had four shots and Charlie Lyon made just one save.

The announced attendance of 3,312 broke the former Engelmann attendance record of 3,256 set back in 2006 against these same Golden Eagles.

The 39th Panther Invitational is next and will be played September 6 & 8, with Marquette, Bowling Green and Drake making up the field. New this season will be a UWM Alumni Match on the Saturday in between games, set for 7 p.m. at Engelmann Stadium.

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