Oct. 31, 2004
Contact: Brian McCann
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- UW-Milwaukee scored on an own goal just three minutes into overtime to spoil an outstanding defensive effort by the Viking defense and claim a 1-0 win over Cleveland State on Sunday at UWM's Engelmann Field.
After playing to a draw for 90 minutes of regulation, the Panthers ended the scoreless game at the 93:20 mark when CSU's Craig Coleman deflected a pass into the Viking net. UWM's Kyle Zenoni had fed a pass from 15 yards into the box ahead towards teammate Antou Jallow, but Coleman slid to deny the pass and inadvertently redirected the pass past Viking netminder Amir Kettani.
"Our defense was magnificent all day long and it is unfortunate to have the match end the way it did," head coach Pete Curtis said. "I told Craig (Coleman) after the match that the reason the pass deflected into the net was because he was a step ahead of Jallow all afternoon. It was the unfortunate end to a great play."
"This was a great match. We definitely gave as good as we got and we had a chance to win right up to the final shot. Our guys gave a solid all-around performance and we walked off the field with our heads held high. The outcome could have easily been the other way around," Curtis added.
Cleveland State was out-shot 17-3 in the contest with Kettani making seven saves in the net.
The loss, CSU's fourth in a row, dropped the Vikings record to 5-10-2 overall and 0-6-1 in league play. UW-Milwaukee claimed the Horizon League regular season title with the win with a 6-1-0 mark, improving to 10-4-3 overall.
The Vikings will close the regular season at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night (Nov. 3) before making a return trip to UW-Milwaukee to open Horizon League Championship play next Saturday (Nov. 6). The Vikings will enter the tourney as the No. 8 seed and face the Panthers, a squad that claimed the regular season title.
"Our guys are up for a return trip," Curtis said. "UWM is a very good team, but we felt that we could have quite easily won the match today so we are excited about playing them again next week. If they are supposed to be the top of the league and we are the bottom, then that tells you a lot about the competition level of this league."
