MILWAUKEE – Jake Kelderman and Vuk Latinovich scored second-half goals to send the Milwaukee men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Marquette in the battle for the "Milwaukee Cup" Tuesday night at Engelmann Stadium.
 
The Panthers (4-2) turned up the offense against the Golden Eagles (2-2-1) in the second half, outshooting the visitors by a 9-to-3 count after intermission in addition to taking all five of the second-half corner kicks.
 
"That is always a tough game," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "Regardless of the records of both teams coming in, that is a tough match. We got better as the match went on and played well enough to get the victory."
 
The win keeps the Cup in the hands of the Panthers and runs the MKE record in the head-to-head series to an unbeaten 3-0-2 over the last five years.
 
"What an awesome environment," Kelderman said. "Just a great evening for both teams. Obviously, it's better for the winner, but what an awesome night for soccer."
 
The Panthers came out of the locker room at half quick, with Josh Kaye forcing a save in the first 30 seconds. They kept up the pressure, earning a pair of corner kicks. The second one resulted in the equalizer, with Kelderman at the back post to head in the Joshua Kidder corner and make it a new game at 1-1 at the 49:20 mark.
 
"We adjusted things at halftime," Kelderman said. "The guys bought in and it worked out. Any time you score it's exciting. When it's a goal that gets you back in the game at 1-1, then we have momentum. The guys got excited and got confidence from the goal and we were able to get another."
 
Freddy Lorenzen played a key role next, making a brilliant save on a free kick in the 68^th minute to keep it at 1-1 at the time.
 
The game-winner came on another set piece, again from the freshman Kidder. He took a free kick in the 76^th minute from the left wing and placed it perfectly in front of goal, where Latinovich skied to redirect on a header and set off a celebration by the 1,534 fans in attendance after it snuck inside the far post.
 
The team held on from there to improve to 31-11-5 in the all-time series.
 
Latinovich nearly added a second goal – again from Kidder – seeing his well-struck header saved in the 86^th minute.
 
He nearly got things going quickly for Milwaukee as well, with another header off a corner kick saved brilliantly by MU's Jackson Weyman in the fifth minute.
 
For the game, MKE held advantage of 16-to-7 in shots, 5-to-3 in shots on goal and 7-to-3 in corner kicks. Latinovich had a game-high five attempts (3 on goal), with eight different Panthers recording shot attempts on the evening.
 
Lorenzen was credited with a pair of saves, improving to a perfect 3-0 in the "Milwaukee Cup" in his collegiate career.
 
Another big game awaits the Panthers, continuing Horizon League play when they host Wright State Saturday night. Play will get underway with the Raiders at 7 p.m., coming in as the defending conference regular-season champions.

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