Nov. 6, 2004
Contact: Brian McCann
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Dale Weiler scored a pair of goals and added an assist to lead host UW-Milwaukee to a 4-0 win over Cleveland State in the opening round of the 2004 Horizon League Men's Soccer Champipmsjops on Saturday at UWM's Engelmann Field.
After the two teams played a scoreless regulation in a 1-0 UWM overtime win last Sunday (Oct. 31), UW-Milwaukee wasted no time in getting opening up a lead in the rematch, scoring a pair of goals in the first nine minutes.
Weiler opened the scoring just 1:30 into the contest when headed a cross from Chris Brisson to the far post from six yards out.
The duo teamed up again at the 8:26 mark when Brisson headed home Weiler's long cross from the left side into the corner of the net.
"Part of our game plan this afternoon was to play a solid first 15 minutes and not give them anything easy," head coach Pete Curtis said. "To do that, we needed to have 100% focus defensively and we didn't get it and that resulted in two soft goals."
The Viking defense toughened after that, holding the Panthers off the scoreboard until early in the second half when Weiler added his second marker at the50:29 mark, turning his defender on the left side and immediately lofting a shot into the far corner of the net.
"We did the same thing at the start of the second half that we did at the start of the first," Curtis added. "The first thre goals were all avoidable and when you give a team like UW-Milwaukee a cushion, it is hard to fight back."
The Panthers added an insurance goal in the final minutes when Antou Jallow, who earlier in the week was named the Horizon League Player of the Year, took a pass from Dan Zelasko and scored from eight yards out in the 84th minute.
"Craig Coleman played anotherr great match defensively on Jallow," Curtis said. "That play was the only time all afternoon that he was able to get away from Craig, and like any good striker, he put it away."
Cleveland State was out-shot in the contest, 17-7, with Viking netminder Amir Kettani making five saves in goal. UWM's Erik Mickschl made three saves to record the shutout.
The loss marked the third time in the last four years that the Panthers eliminated the Vikings from the league tournament.
CSU ends the year with a 5-12-2 record, including losses in each of the last six matches. UW-Milwaukee, which improved to 11-4-3, will host the final two rounds of the league championship beginning next Saturday (Nov. 13).
