MILWAUKEE - Junior Laurie Bell's league-leading 10th goal of the season proved to be the game-winner as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team recorded a 2-1 victory over Oakland University Saturday night at Engelmann Stadium.

The Panthers (11-2-2, 4-2-0 Horizon League) handed the Grizzlies (5-5-5, 3-1-1 Horizon League) their first loss in conference play this season, moving into second place in the league standings with the victory.

"It's a great result. It was a big game for us against a very good undefeated team in our conference," UWM head coach Kris Kelderman said. "We are itching to get into the conference tournament and see how far we can go and tonight was a great result and a good effort by the guys."

Bell and senior James Ashcroft each found the back of the net for Milwaukee in the first half, giving the home side a 2-0 lead until Oakland scratched out a goal just four seconds before intermission.

Bell became the first Panther to score at least 10 goals in a season since 2004 in the 38th minute, one-timing a cross from freshman Kostas Kotselas at the far post to make it 2-0 at the 37:51 mark.

Ashcroft broke the scoreless deadlock about 10 minutes earlier, beating everyone to a poorly struck back pass to the goalkeeper and finishing on the first touch from about 15 yards out for his second goal of the season.

He followed that up by picking off a pass at midfield on the restart and sending a shot from midfield on frame. Sean Lewis had to go airborne to keep it from going in or Ashcroft would have had two goals in a span of less than 10 seconds on the clock.

"The last few weeks we inserted James to play up top and he's done a great job as far as holding the ball, winning balls in the air, he's done really well," Kelderman said.

Bell's goal came after a hustle play by Kotselas, who ran down a long ball down the left side of the field. His initial service was deflected, but freshman Beau Laufer kept it alive with a touch back to Kotselas, who found Bell for the tally.

Oakland beat the halftime buzzer to get back into it, scoring at the 44:56 mark when Cody Archibald volleyed home his first of the season.

"That was disappointing and the guys knew it," Kelderman said. "It was something you just can't allow to happen, but we came out in the second half and took care of business."

The Grizzlies came out after intermission strong, registering four shots in the first 10 minutes of play. The Panthers weathered the storm, getting a great save by freshman Liam Anderson on a volleyed blast in the 56th minute, diving to his left to push it wide.

Milwaukee had a couple of solid chances to dent the scoreboard early in the night. Senior Austin Toth volleyed a cross from Robbie Boyd just wide in the eighth minute and sophomore Aaron Horvat had his chip attempt stopped by the OU keeper after Ashcroft led him with a nice pass in the 14th.

For the game, Milwaukee recorded an 18-to-15 advantage in shots, 7-to-4 in shots on goal and had all three of the corner kicks. Bell paced the offense with eight of those attempts, nearly scoring a second time in the 69th minute, only to see his long shot punched over the bar at the last second.

Up next, the Panthers play their final non-conference game of the season, heading to DeKalb, Ill., to take on Northern Illinois in the yearly battle for the LeWang Trophy. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

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