Panthers Prepare For NCAA TournamentNov. 17, 2004 MILWAUKEE - Complete Release in PDF Format
Panthers Go Dancing In California With a thrilling 3-2 victory over Detroit in Sunday's Horizon League Tournament championship game, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team earned the league's automatic berth into the 2004 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. The Panthers will travel to San Francisco, Calif., to face the Dons of the University of San Francisco on Saturday (Nov. 20). The first round game is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. central time at Negeosco Stadium on the USF campus. The winner of the UWM-USF contest will face the tourney's #9 seed UC-Santa Barbara on Tuesday (Nov. 23). UWM Holds Off Pesky Titans Despite coming in as the underdogs, the University of Detroit-Mercy gave UWM all it could handle before the host Panthers held on for a 3-2 win in the 2004 Horizon League Tournament championship game in Milwaukee on Sunday. UWM took a 1-0 lead into the break on an Antou Jallow goal and extended it when Dale Weiler scored in the second half. Detroit cut the lead to one on a penalty kick before a Jallow PK made it 3-1. UDM converted on a second penalty kick just minutes later but Milwaukee's defense stiffened up and the hosts held on for their third consecutive Horizon League Tournament title. Milwaukee Makes It Four In A Row The UWM men's soccer team will be making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament which is good for the longest consecutive NCAA streak in both school and Horizon League history. The Panthers are 2-3 in their last three NCAA Tournament berths and have won each of their last two first round games. Saturday will mark the program's seventh NCAA Tournament appearance overall, also tops among all league schools. Panthers On Top Again...And Again...And Again Yes, all eight teams in the Horizon League are eligible to win championships. No, no one else has accomplished the feat in the last four years. Such is the life for the UWM men's soccer team. Thanks to a 6-1 regular season record and a 3-0 mark in the league tournament the Panthers claimed their fourth straight regular season league title and third consecutive tournament championship. In fact, when looking at the numbers in-depth, the league domination is even more astounding. In the past four years UWM owns a 26-1-1 regular season record versus league foes and a 37-2-1 record including the postseason tournament. The only blemishes on the record, a 2001 loss to Butler in the Horizon League Championship match, a 2-2 tie versus UIC in 2003 and a 1-0 loss at UIC this season. Winning Continues Into The Postseason Success for the UWM men's soccer team has not been relegated to just regular season games. In the 32-year history of the program, Milwaukee owns a 21-13-1 all-time record in postseason games. The Panthers are 2-6-0 in NCAA Tournament play but 19-7-1 in conference tournament action. There has been even more success of late as UWM boasts an 11-2 record in postseason contests in the last three years. Milwaukee is 9-0 in its last nine Horizon League tournament contests and 2-2 in its last four NCAA games. Best Class In History There is no questioning it now. The current group of seniors on the UWM men's soccer team will go down as the winningest and most decorated class in program history. The group of eight seniors, which consists of Chris Brisson, Adam Gehrt, Khaled El-Ahmad, Antou Jallow, Trent Furtsch, Cliff Ellsworth, Ian Hoelker and Kirk Thode, is the only class to advance to the NCAA Tournament during all four years of its eligibility. Furthermore, the group owns a 66-17-5 record during the stretch, good for the most wins and best winning percentage of any class in school history. Panthers Dominate All-Tourney Squad The UWM men's soccer team dominated the 2004 Horizon League All-Tournament squad and did so with good reason. The Panthers claimed the tourney title while outscoring the opposition 10-2 in the process. Senior forward Antou Jallow made his third consecutive all-tournament appearance while claiming tourney MVP honors for the second-time. Joining Jallow on the all-tournament team were sophomore goalkeeper Eric Mickschl, junior midfielder Neil Dombrowski, senior defender Trent Furtsch, senior midfielder Chris Brisson, and sophomore forward Dale Weiler. Streaking Into The NCAA's The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team certainly picked the right time to peak. The Panthers, who sat at 3-4-3 after a 1-0 loss at UIC on October 10, have won 10 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in school history and longest current streak among all DI men's soccer teams. The 2002 UWM squad won a school-record 19 consecutive wins before falling to Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament while the 1985 Bob Gansler- coached squad started the season 12-0. Offense Cranks It Up What happened to the supposed goal-scoring struggles of the early season that plagued the Panthers? Well, its become abundantly clear that those days are a thing of the past. The Panthers have now scored 42 goals on the season and 2.10 goals per game, good for 24th nationally. During the current 10-game winning streak Milwaukee has scored 30 markers, which includes two, five-goal games and one four-goal contest. Furthermore, the defense has been solid as well, allowing five goals during the ten game stretch while improving its season goals against average to 0.87, good for 25th nationally. Panther Players Among The Elite The 2004 UWM offensive and defensive units aren't the only ones garnering national attention for their statistics. According to the most recent NCAA statistics released on Tuesday (Nov. 16), three different Panthers rank among the top 15 nationally in different statistical categories. Sophomore forward Dale Weiler ranks 5th with 13 assists and 0.68 assists per game while Antou Jallow sits 10th and 13th, respectively, with 0.80 goals and 1.80 points per game. Lastly, sophomore netminder Eric Mickschl ranks 13th in the country with a 0.725 goals against average. Antou Honored Once Again It certainly didn't come as a major surprise but UWM's Antou Jallow was named the 2004 Horizon League Player of the Year in a release last week. The senior forward currently leads the league in goals (16) and points (36) while also leading in points and goals in league-only games. Jallow joined Eric Lukin of UIC (1999-2000) as the only two-time Player of the Year winners. Furthermore, Jallow became just one of 11 players all-time to earn first-team all-league honors three straight seasons. Jallow was UWM's only first-team member while senior Trent Furtsch and sophomore Dale Weiler each were named to the second-team. The Louis Bennett Award No, there is no truth to the rumor that the Horizon League is renaming the Horizon League Coach of the Year Award for UWM head man Louis Bennett. Bennett, who won the award in 2001, 2002 and 2003, was named the league coach of the year again this season, giving him four consecutive awards. Bennett became the first coach in Horizon League history to win the award in four straight seasons. In addition, Bennett has won the award five times in nine seasons, which is the best all-time among Horizon League coaches. From Sweden To The Record Books When Antou Jallow came to Milwaukee from Uppsula, Sweden, four years ago UWM head coach Louis Bennett knew he was getting a solid player with the capability of scoring some goals. However, if anyone thought that the striker would own nearly every goal-scoring record possible then they would be pulling your leg. Jallow, who has 58 career goals, 12 assists, and 128 career points, now owns UWM's career, single-season (24 in 2002), and single-game (4 in 2002) record for goals while also holding the all-time Horizon League goals scored mark along with the tournament goals record (4 in 2004). Jallow sits second in school-history with the 128 points, trailing only Tony Sanneh's (1990-93) 138 points. The Rankings Game Sure, everybody says rankings don't matter. However, national polls and rankings are still a decent barometer when judging opponents come NCAA Tournament time as well as getting a gauge on how the rest of the nation feels about your program. For the first time all season, the UWM men's soccer squad has moved above the 30th spot nationally, thanks to a current No. 27 ranking in the collegesoccernews.com National Top 30 Poll. UWM's opponent on Saturday, San Fransisco, sits 14th in the collegesoccernews.com poll and 20th in the nation in the most recent NSCAA Top 25. Milwaukee is currently eighth in the NSCAA/Great Lakes Region while USF sits fourth in the NSCAA/Far West Region. Panthers In The Majors
The UWM men's soccer program is rich in both recent and historical tradition. In addition to the four consecutive NCAA appearances and Horizon League championships, the program has also been home to numerous national-level superstars. Tony Sanneh, who played at UWM from 1990-93, currently plays for the Columbus Crew of the MLS after playing a major role in the 2002 U.S. World Cup run. Furthermore, 1991 alum Manny Lagos joins Sanneh with the Columbus Crew while 2003 grad Tighe Dombrowski plays with the San Jose Earthquakes.
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