Nov. 20, 2004

Chris Brisson scored from close range with just 2:38 remaining in regulation as Wisconsin-Milwaukee upset USF 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA men's soccer playoffs Saturday afternoon before 2,333 at Negoesco Stadium.

The Dons (14-5-1), who had a 7-1-1 record at Negoesco Stadium going into the match, fell behind early and suddenly. The Panthers (14-4-3), champions of the Horizon League, tallied at 4:25 on a goal by Chris Brisson on their first shot of the game. Brisson volleyed a perfect cross from Antou Jallo into the net from close range.

USF dominated the game statistically, but could not find the net in the first half as leading scorer Aaron Chandler missed twice from close range.

The Dons were finally rewarded when senior Alfred Bedrossian scored on a nifty pass from Chandler at the 52:26 mark.

USF outshot UWM by a 15-9 count during the game, but again the visitors tallied when Antou Jallow headed in a cross from Dale Weiler for his 17th goal of the season at 75:29.

Again, USF battled back and two freshman combined for the tying goal, when Brandon McDonald headed in Jordan Keyes' throw in at 78:20.

USF again attacked and the Panthers were able to score on a counter with Sperl's short shot trickling past Dons' goalkeeper Geremy Uhl at 87:22 for the game-winner.

"It has been a great season," said head coach Erik Visser, whose Dons won the tough West Coast Conference and climbed to #14 in the nation. "This team has given everything they had and then some. I thought that we played well today, but give Wisconsin Milwaukee credit, they did what they needed to do.

The Dons' defense the force that led the way this season, had a disappointing match. USF had not given up two goals in regulation since September 12th at Brown, 17 games ago, also the only game that they had given up three in a game.

The season ended for USF, but the team will always have the West Coast Conference Championship, and awards to Player of the Year Aaron Chandler and Coach of the Year to Erik Visser.

Quotes:

USF Head Coach Erik Visser

"I give Wisconsin an enormous amount of credit. They fly in to the West Coast only with a couple days notice and have to play on Fieldturf, which they don't have much experience with.

" I knew when they went one goal up, it would be very difficult. But we made some adjustments at the end when the score was tied 2 -2. I didn't want to be conservative. We were at home, and I wanted to go for the win; not go into overtime. So I put in three strikers and just three in the back.

"Wisconsin was a little bit more decisive and a little bit more opportunistic. They executed better than we did. We gave up a couple of uncharacteristic goals, letting a couple of soft goals go in. I can't ask more of this team. This team's been wonderful. I'm extremely proud of this team, they have done a terrifc job. We've spent the past couple of years trying to return USF to national prominence. These guys really have done a tremendous job and deserve a lot of credit because I feel the Dons are on their back to re-establishing themselves as a national powerhouse."

UW-Milwaukee head coach Louis Bennett:

"When we needed to come up with goals, we did. I don't think we knew until the last second that we had that game won. USF kept coming back. We've had the longest existing winning streak right now in the NCAA. We've won 10 consecutive games. I'm surprised we were sent so far away from home. With the travel and the new turf, I don't think we would had been equipped to play so well if this were our first tournament appearance.

"There were large portions of the game we were not in, but we persisted and persisted, and ironically, scored the goals according to our game plan. USF is a very fine team, but I think this speaks highly of what a strong league we play in. I'm proud of how resilient our men are."