| September 29, 2012
HORIZON DEADLOCK
Panthers-Ramblers in 1-1 tie
CHICAGO, Ill. - Loyola and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee played to a 1-1 draw to open the Horizon League schedule at Loyola Soccer Park Saturday night.
Freshman Dorian O'Lochlayne scored a first-half goal for the Panthers (4-4-1, 0-0-1 Horizon League), but the Ramblers (1-5-2, 0-0-2 Horizon League) Kyle Spoo found the equalizer midway through the second half to eventually send it to overtime.
"Obviously, we would have liked to have gotten a win, but playing at Loyola isn't easy," UWM head coach Kris Kelderman said. "It's a smaller field and they play accordingly pretty well. They are dangerous on set pieces; they have some bigger guys, so at least we came out with a tie which was encouraging."
In the overtime sessions, both teams struggled to put together things on the offensive side of the field, combining for just two shots in the 20 extra minutes.
"It's a physical game," Kelderman said. "Again, when you play on a smaller field there are more physical confrontations and you could see it was wearing on both teams. We knew coming in to this environment we had to roll up our sleeves and fight and grind it out. It's not going to be the prettiest soccer on this field and you have to accept that. At times, I thought we did well and we walk away with a point."
The Panthers nearly had another game featuring last-minute heroics, but sophomore Laurie Bell had his 20-yard blast from the top of the 18-yard box saved with a diving stop at the post with about 45 seconds left in regulation. Also, freshman Declan Rodriguez nearly connected on a long serve from Bell in the 84th minute, but his close-range header went inches wide.
"I said to the guys after the game that we grinded out a result," Kelderman said. "I thought we learned a little bit from our last game at Bowling Green where we thought we had the better of the game but failed to get a result."
After a slow initial 15 minutes of the match for UWM, the team turned up the intensity on offense and started putting together some dangerous opportunities. That helped it break into the scoring column in the 34th minute. O'Lochlayne, who had subbed into the game just two minutes earlier, put himself in position to clean up a rebound and give UWM a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute.
Senior Jamie Bladen started the scoring play on a free kick. His 30-yard set piece was on target and was only partially saved. It bounced O'Lochlayne's way for his first collegiate goal and the momentum for the Panthers.
"The first 15 minutes was a little helter-skelter and that was adapting to the game," Kelderman said. "There are a lot of stoppages and it takes away from the flow of the game and we had to get used to that. It took us the first 10-15 minutes to figure out how to play and adjust accordingly and after that we settled down. I felt pretty good about the performance. We still need to improve on the finishing end."
Loyola ended up scoring well into the second half to tie the game, taking advantage of one of its few real threats. . Dane Bergstrom set up the equalizer in the 62nd minute with a centering pass to Spoo who took a shot 15 yards out
Overall, the Milwaukee defense was solid. Senior goalkeeper John Shakon made three saves in the first half, including a spectacular stop at the post in the sixth minute. Ramblers goalkeeper Peter McKeown played the first 45 minutes, making two saves, Tim Dobrowski went the remaining 65 minutes and made three saves.
He ended up coming off at halftime with an injury, with freshman Connor Revsbeck playing the final 65 minutes, making a pair of saves of his own.
"With the exception of the one goal, I thought we were solid defensively," Kelderman said. "We had our backup goalkeeper come in and Connor did a great job. When you go on the road in a conference game, coming away with a tie is pretty decent."
The Panthers stay on the road for one more contest, traveling to Green Bay to battle for the Chancellor's Cup Oct. 3 before finally returning home to host UIC under the lights Oct. 6.
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