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Milwaukee Tops Vikings, 1-0, in Dying Seconds

Milwaukee Tops Vikings, 1-0, in Dying Seconds

Milwaukee, Wis. – The Cleveland State University men's soccer team and host Milwaukee played to a scoreless draw for over 89 minutes in a Horizon League clash, but the host Panthers scored in the dying seconds in each team's regular-season finale on a crisp Friday evening at Engelmann Stadium.

Freshman Sebastian Kalk had another strong effort in net. The rookie made six saves and looks likely to lead the League in save percentage, and potentially goals against average as well. He helped guide a makeshift CSU back line Friday that saw two starters unavailable due to injuries.

Kalk was called into action in the first minute as he easily grabbed a soft chipped cross played from the left side of the box.

Junior Hesham Hamouda had a couple of decent looks in the early going as he couldn't get a shot off inside the box in a dangerous area in the third minute and then had an attempt go not too far wide of the right post in the 13th minute.

Cleveland State really began to grab hold of the game as the first half wore on.

One of the defining moments of the match came in the 28th minute when freshman forward Gabriel Pewu nicely split two defenders inside the box and was subsequently chopped down. No call was made on the play.

In the 36th minute, junior Jake Lagania blasted a shot after a deflected corner kick fell to him outside the box, and his effort forced a diving save.

Despite owning an 8-3 edge in shots and a 5-0 advantage on corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes, CSU was unable to take the lead.

Milwaukee came out with a better performance in the second half. The Panthers had a rocket of a shot that was nicely deflected wide of the frame by a Viking player in the 58th minute.

Pewu got back into the box in the 60th minute but was unable to get a shot off.

Kalk made strong saves in the 67th minute, when he charged off his line to snuff out a shot, and in the 87th minute, when he made a diving save to his left to push a free kick wide of the net.

Milwaukee scored the game's only goal with under 30 seconds to play in the match. After winning a few headers near midfield to push the ball into the attacking third, a through ball was played on the deck. A Panther player took a low shot that Kalk stopped moving to his left, but the rebound was pounced on by a teammate who slotted it in before the rookie could get back into position.

The match served as the final time on the CSU sidelines for head coach Ali Kazemaini, who announced he would step down at the end of this season. Kirk Harwat was recently named the head coach effective at the end of 2016, and he will lead the program going forward.