MILWAUKEE - Oregon State University scored a pair of goals in a six-minute span in the middle of the first half and dug in defensively in the second to hand the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team a 2-0 loss Friday night at Engelmann Stadium.

In a game that pitted two teams ranked in the NSCAA regional polls - the Panthers (2-1-0, ranked fourth in the Great Lakes) and Beavers (3-0-0, sixth in the Far West) battled it out in the opening contest of the 40th Panther Invitational.

"It's a tough result," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "I thought it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, I thought they were much better than us. They are a big, physical team and they were sharper on the ball. They just beat us in the first half. They capitalized on a couple of our letdowns and scored two goals."

UWM came out much better after halftime but could not find the back of the net. The Panthers carried the majority of possession in the second and outshot the visitors by a count of 9-to-5, but ended up dropping a game at home for just the second time since the start of the 2013 campaign.

"We worked on some things and talked about some things at halftime and we came out much better," Kelderman said. "I thought we were the better team in the second half but, unfortunately, they had two goals to show for when they were at the top of their game and we didn't get any to show for our hard work. It's promising. Disappointing that we didn't get the result, but the guys came out and were much better in the second half and that is something to build on."

Scoreless for almost 20 minutes, senior Luke Goodnetter made the play of the game at the time when he raced back to clear a potential goal off the line at the 19:36 mark.

The momentum was short-lived, however, when Jordan Jones one-timed a cross at the near post to make it 1-0 at the 23:04 mark.

Less than six minutes later, Devontae Small launched a ball from over 30 yards out and snuck it under the cross bar to make it 2-0 in the 29th minute.

The Panthers had their chances. In the 38th minute, senior Laurie Bell sent an end line cross into the box and past the OSU defense. Freshman Magnus Flaatedal was at the end of it, but sent his attempt inches wide of the post.

In the 56th minute, Goodnetter's service into the box found Bell's head, setting up another chance for freshman Petter Ingebrigtsen, but he narrowly missed scoring for the third game in a row.

Bell had two decent opportunities himself, only to see his 60th-minute header saved and his 79th-minute volley flying just over the bar.

For the game, Oregon State ended with a 14-13 edge in shots - the first time UWM has been outshot in 2014 - and earned four of the seven corner kicks. Bell finished with a game-high six shots.

In the night's other contest in the tournament, Marquette scored twice in the first half to knock off Gonzaga, 2-0.

On Sunday, the Panthers will take on the Bulldogs at 11 a.m., with Marquette hosting OSU in the game that will decide the invitational champion starting at noon.

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