MILWAUKEE - Sydney Senn scored her second career goal with just 1:32 left on the clock to give the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team a thrilling 5-4 win over Marquette Thursday night in front of 789 people at Valley Fields.

UWM (2-5) jumped out of the gates and scored the first four goals of the match, only to see MU (2-4-1) storm back and tie the game with just over four minutes remaining.

But Senn was hero of the night, scoring from close range on a great feed from Vienna Behnke at the 88:26 mark to give Milwaukee the dramatic win.

This marks the first win for Milwaukee at Valley Fields since a 1-0 win in 2008.

"The first half went a little bit like I thought it would," Milwaukee head coach Greg Henschel said. "I thought we would be a little stronger in the second half, but I'm proud of how the team responded."

For the second-straight game, Milwaukee jumped on the board early in the match. Kelly Lewers collected the ball in the Marquette area and played the perfect ball to Morgan LaPlant. The senior took two touches to burn past the defense inside the box and scored her third goal in the last two games for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.

Just two and a half minutes later, Milwaukee made it 2-0. Rachael Van Keulen launched a ball from the midfield into the box where Behnke was waiting. Behnke headed it to the center of the box and Krissy Dorre timed it perfectly and made it 2-0 at the 13:28 mark.

Milwaukee continued to pour it on as Lewers made it 3-0 in the 31st minute. Amy Kauffung sent a corner into the box where Maria Stephans got a slight flick off her head and it fell right the feet of a streaking Lewers who calmly placed it far post for the finish.

 

There was no let up out of the halftime locker room either, as Behnke scored her first of the year in the 63rd minute. LaPlant dribbled the ball from the right side of midfield through a defender's legs and toward the box, laying the ball off for Behnke, who took one touch before making it 4-0.

Marquette came storming back, though. A penalty kick by Mary Luba in the 69th minute started the scoring and made it 4-1 Milwaukee. Goals by Carolina Fink and Liz Bartels made things much more interesting before Heather Handwork tied the match up at 4-4 at the 85:37 mark.

That set the stage for Senn, scoring just the second goal and the first game-winner of her young career.

"I saw Vienna take her first touch toward the outside," Senn said. "I saw her look up, we made eye contact and then she passed it to me and I just played it in.

"It was amazing. It was the best experience of my life."

Added Henschel, "A reporter called me this week and asked me what I thought about my team. This team confirmed what I told that reporter and that was that we are a resilient group. I've seen our resiliency in every match. It might not show in every box score, but I've seen it in every match and tonight it was probably a little more overt."

Marquette outshot UWM on the night, 13-11. Milwaukee held a 4-2 edge in saves, while the Golden Eagles had a 4-3 advantage in corners.

Milwaukee is now 8-9-6 all time in its series with Marquette. This marks the most goals ever by the Panthers in its matchup with MU and the most goals ever by the two teams combined, shattering the previous record of five (twice).

The Panthers now head south to take on No. 18 Auburn in a Sunday contest on the SEC Network. Kick off is set for noon CST.