MILWAUKEE – Mohammad Salhieh scored his first goal of the regular season for the Northern Kentucky University men's soccer team, but the tally fell short as Wisconsin-Milwaukee netted a pair of second-half goals to claim a 2-1 result.

NKU, now 0-2 on the season, will seek its first victory of the year next weekend when the Norse face Radford and High Point in the Flash Gordon Invitational in High Point, N.C.

NKU's goal opened the scoring in the 14th minute as a result of a nice takeaway by Cian McDonald on the side line.  McDonald was able to feed Kevin Walker, who started a tic-tac-toe from Brenden Murphy and on to Salhieh, who got the Norse on the board sneaking a touch inside the right post.

Toby Frohlich
The end of the first half was marked by some particularly rough play as the referee issued four yellow cards in the final five minutes before intermission, including bookings to NKU's Austin Pierce and Mohab el Tawila.  All told, 36 fouls were committed in the match, 23 of them whistled against the Norse.

Milwaukee began to take control in the second half, maintaining possession and continuously pressing the attack.  The Panthers earned five corner kick opportunities in the first 14 minutes of the half before Declan Rodriguez finally cashed a chance in, heading home a ball inside the left post for his second of the season.

The Panthers took the lead for good in the 76th minute after the Norse were whistled for a handball inside the 18-yard-box, affording Milwaukee's Laurie Bell a penalty kick opportunity which he did not miss for his first marker of the season.

NKU had a couple of late chances to draw the match level, most notably in the final 40 seconds of the match when the Norse were awarded a free kick just inside the midfield line.  After some confusion on the spot of the foul, the free kick was taken, but in the jockeying for position on the receiving end, NKU was judged to have committed a foul, thus ending the threat and preserving the Panthers' victory.

NKU goalkeeper Toby Frohlich was solid in net despite the final result, ending the day with five saves as the Norse were outshot in the contest, 23-4.