MILWAUKEE - A pair of freshmen scored on senior night to give the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team an emphatic 2-0 win over top-seeded Detroit Friday night at Engelmann Stadium.
 
Petter Ingebrigtsen gave Milwaukee the early 1-0 lead in the 17^th minute and Reid Stevenson gave the Panthers an insurance goal in the 70^th minute on a chilly night in Milwaukee.
 
With the win, UWM clinched a berth to the Horizon League Tournament as either the fifth or sixth seed and will play a quarterfinal matchup Monday, with opponent, location and time yet to be determined.
 
"It was a great night," Milwaukee head coach Kris Keldermann said. "It was a game that we obviously needed the result to get into the conference tournament. The fact that it was senior night, to end it on a bang for those guys is very special. But, most importantly, not only did we get the result, but I thought we played very well for the most part over the 90 minute duration. I'm very proud of the guys.
 
"We created a lot of opportunities. I thought we had another chance or two that I thought we could have finished, but we got a result against a team that has had a lot of success in our conference this year, so that's very encouraging going into our next game."
 
Detroit had its best chance of the night right out of the gates. Less than five minutes in, Matt Ybarra had a good look from inside the 18, but the shot banged off the crossbar to keep the game level early.
 
Milwaukee responded well to the early threat and was able to find the back of the net just over 10 minutes later. Zach Stevenson sent a long throw in from near the corner of the field into the Titan box. A few players swung at the ball before Ingebrigtsen was able to get on the end of it for his fifth goal of the season.
 
After holding the 1-0 lead into halftime, the Panthers pushed early in the second half looking for that second goal.
 
Senior Richard Johnson had a blast from 45 yards out that nearly caught the UDM keeper off guard but it went just high at the 49:17 mark.
 
Less than one minute later, senior Laurie Bell had a shot from close range that nearly curled into the top far corner but curled just high.
 
With just over 20 minutes left in the match, the Panther attack finally paid off.
 
Junior Declan Rodriguez made a great move to play the ball ahead into the box. Rodriguez was able to beat the on-rushing keeper to the ball, centering inside the box to Kyle Neumann. With three defenders around him, Neumann was somehow able to get a shot off heading back post, with R. Stevenson there to put it away for the 2-0 lead at the 69:11 mark.
 
From there, the Panther defense took over.
 
Detroit fired off 20 shots in the game, including 10 in the second half. Milwaukee's defense was swarming all night though, limiting those 20 attempts to just three on net.
 
"Our defense played well, but it was great team defense," Keldermann said. "Our guys up front were battling. It was a great group effort. The team knew that we needed all 11 guys to really get after it tonight, dig down and do all the little things that turn into big things if you do them well. Defensively, the back line did well, but as a team it was a great effort."
 
Milwaukee will now wait to find out the final league standings to find out its destination for a Monday matchup on the road against either the third or fourth seed in the Horizon League Tournament.

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