Stunning Finish Helps Marquette Escape

by Chris Zills
August 24, 2012

Goals by senior Cody Banks and freshman Declan Rodriguez looked to be enough for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team, but a pair of goals in the final eight minutes - including the game-winner as time expired - helped Marquette University pull off a stunner and claim a 3-2 victory.

The contest was the season opener for both teams, with the Golden Eagles (1-0-0) reclaiming the Milwaukee Cup from the Panthers (0-1-0) with the amazing finish in front of a packed crowd Friday night at Valley Fields.

"It's unfortunate and obviously it's disappointing," Milwaukee head coach Kris Kelderman said. "The guys worked hard and we put ourselves in position to win the game. The job then is to make sure we are disciplined defensively and to close the game out and we broke down at the very end. The game isn't only 90 minutes but it's 5400 seconds and you have to play not only every minute of the game, but every second of the game and we didn't."

With the match tied, 1-1, Rodriguez picked up a highlight-reel goal at the 69:50 mark that gave UWM its second lead of the contest. He picked up a loose ball near the sideline and carried it through a pair of defenders and took off towards the goal. He fired it from 25 yards out and netted it for the first tally of his collegiate career.

"The goals were nice," Kelderman said. "But, we didn't finish it up defensively. And those kinds of mishaps happen to a young team. I am not making excuses for us being young, but it's going to happen."

An unfortunate misplay tied the game in the 82nd minute. Senior goalkeeper John Shakon went to clear a ball from the front of his goal, but pulled a large divot out of the field on the kick. The ball went right to Marquette's Adam Lysak, who was all by himself in front of the net and easily tied the game at 2-2.

 

 


"There were some unfortunate instances in the game, but at the end of the day I believe you make your own luck," Kelderman said. "There are things that everyone on the field could have done differently, but we have no one to blame but ourselves - as a unit. We have to learn from that and make sure things like that don't happen again."

Sebastian Jansson then stunned the entire crowd with one second left, volleying a ball to the far post that went into the net as time expired.

"There are a lot of games left in the season and we didn't expect to be playing our best soccer right away," Kelderman said. "We move on, we look forward to Sunday's game and we look to get better."

Shakon did make a brilliant save in the 88th minute that seemed to have the match headed to overtime, making a sprawling stop across the mouth of the goal at the 87:51 mark.

Scoreless at the half, the Panthers struck first. Banks finished a wonderful goal at the 50:13 mark, taking a touch and rocketing a ball past the MU keeper off a centering pass from freshman Dorian O'Lochlayne from about 10 yards out.

Less than a minute later it was O'Lochlayne again, beating a defender to a long ball over the defense and firing from a tough angle, but the shot went off the post.

The Golden Eagles would again take advantage of another miscue in the 62nd minute, tying the game on a penalty kick by Bryan Ciesiulka after a UWM defender was called for a foul in the box on a corner kick.

The Panthers ended the night with 16 of the 30 shots in the match, despite a 10-to-1 advantage by Marquette on corner kicks.

Sophomores Zach Stevenson and Laurie Bell each had a team-high four shots, with Shakon finishing with four saves.

The first half was entertaining, with both teams taking turns dominating possession and opportunities for stretches of the contest. Marquette started it, recording six of the first seven shots of the match and the initial four corner kicks.

It took nearly 17 minutes until Milwaukee's first shot, but it took off from there. For the next 15 minutes of the match it had the majority of possession and nearly had a few goals of its own.

Stevenson flew a shot from the top of the 18 over the cross bar after a nice buildup and had another opportunity in the 22nd minute, picking off a centering pass at the back line, taking one touch on a spin-turn and firing a blast wide of the post.

It was Stevenson again in the 24th minute, rocketing a shot off the cross bar from about 20 yards out on a break and just missing the rebound over the bar.

Junior Lucas Davey took a nice feed on the wing from O'Lochlayne in the 30th minute, but a quality save pushed the ball out of bounds on the end line.

The Panthers return to action for their home opener next. The team is set to welcome Northern Kentucky to Engelmann Stadium Sunday, with an early kickoff set for 10 a.m.

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