Oct. 28, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Sophomore Lisa Conway scored in the 30th minute to even the game but regular season champion UW-Milwaukee responded with three second half goals as the Vikings dropped a 4-1 decision to the Panthers in the opening round of the Horizon League Championship.
Cleveland State ends its third season of intercollegiate competition with a 3-17 record. UW-Milwaukee, which improves to 16-2-1, advances to play Detroit in the semi-finals next week in Milwaukee.
"I'm proud of how we played this afternoon," head coach Derrek Falor said. "We fought back from a 1-0 deficit and played some good, solid soccer. We just weren't able to sustain that level of play for 90 minute against one of the best teams in the midwest.
"Even though we won just three matches this year, I believe that we accomplished an awful lot. We are a better team now than we were at the start of the year and we were much better at the start of the season than we were at any time during our first two seasons.
"Our play in the midfield was fantastic this year and should be a strength again next season. I believe that our defense solidified late in the season and we identified the four players who should be the cornerstone of our defense next year.
UW-Milwaukee opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Kate Megna scored on a header off a long free kick from Ginny Graczyk.
But the Vikings fought back, evening the score at 1-1 when Conway curled a corner kick past Panther netminder Erin Kane and into the far corner of the goal at the 29:49 mark.
The score held until the 60th minute when Erin Kreuser scored the first of two second half markers when she gathered in the rebound of a missed Kate Megans shot off a corner kick and slipped it by CSU goalie Ashley Kidwell.
UWM made it 3-1 15 minutes later (74:36) when Taylor Powell was able to redirect a cornerkick from Amanda Winn and head it into the far corner of the net.
The Panthers closed out the scoring with less than four minutes to go when Kreuser and Winn teamed up, this time with Kreuser spinning and scoring from 12 yards out.
The loss spoiled a strong effort in goal by Kidwell, who made a season-high 10 saves.
Despite the loss, Falor remained upbeat.
"We have played UW-Milwaukee every year in the league tournament, but this is the first time that we have played better against them the second time around," Falor said. "It is hard to not be positive because we return all 11 starters next year while also getting back our two best offensive players (Jennifer Wieand & Ashley Walchack), neither of whom played a league match this year."
