The Lanther Diaries: Entry No. 2

Hello lanther fans!!

A lot has happened since our last blog post. We apologize for the delay as we have been busy with the start of our semesters. We have played 8 games since our last post, resulting in 8 wins and 7 shutouts. On top of that, quite a few records have been broken. With the 7 shutouts, our flawless goalkeeper Mallory Geurts and backline broke the Milwaukee program record for longest scoreless streak (917:27 minutes). That’s 15 hours of playing without letting in a single goal. Wow. This streak is 9th ranked for the NCAA scoreless streak record. On top of that, Mal Geurts has become NCAA’s current leading goalkeeper with the most amount of shutouts (9!!). She has earned four Horizon League Defensive Player of the Weeks, so basically she’s been absolutely killing it!! Finally on an individual note, Aubrey Krahn, Anna Smalley, and Lolo Onwuemeka have all earned Horizon League Offensive Player of the Weeks!!

As a team, we have earned the sixth spot in the region, and have received nine votes for the NCAA national poll. Our record of 9-0-1 breaks the MKE program record for most unbeaten games to start the season. Finally, our latest 2-1 win over Marquette (ranked #19 at the time) was Milwaukee’s first time in 11 years to defeat a nationally-ranked opponent.

Well, with all of those recognitions aside, we have had such a fun start to the season off the field also. In August, we had our 2nd annual “Lanther Hydrolympics”!! We split up into six teams (Germany, USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and England), dress up and play each other in different games ... to help us get hydrated. Germany came out on top for the second year in a row (Italy won best spirit by dressing up).

Finally, our loving tradition of playing 5v2 before practice remains strong, even though Kelli Swenson manages to get hit in the face in some way almost every time we play (majority of the times Brooke Polonus is the culprit).

We hope you guys come to our last eight regular season games!! We have all conference games left, so issa bout to go downnnnnn. Our next home game is on September 27th against Green Bay.

****SPECIAL COOL NEVER BEFORE DONE ANNOUNCEMENT**** There will be a DIAMOND ring placed somewhere on Engelmann field after the game (Special shoutout to Kloiber Jewelers). Mind. Blown. Folks, this means if you simply attend our game, you have a chance of winning some fine jewelry (hint hint to all the guys out there- you never know when you’ll need it in the future). So, be there or be ... diamondless.

XOXO, Your Senior Lanths

Nights Under the Lights: Entry No. 2

Hello and welcome back Panther fans, to this week’s edition of “Nights Under the Lights!”

This first month and a bit has flown right by, and as I mentioned in the last write-up the team continues to work, battle and stay hungry for positive performances and results. The vibe around the dressing room is a positive one and our group continues to grow and learn about one another on and off the pitch.

Picking up from last time, our team hopped on the bus and made the long trip to Evansville, Indiana, for a couple of matches against hosts Evansville University on Friday, and University of Bradley from Illinois on Sunday.

Evansville is a good team with lots of international players who had some great experience, along with a preseason All-American midfielder, but none of that mattered to us come game time. We went down two-nil and we were fighting some adversity from fans and the referee, but we had no doubt in ourselves. Senior Magnus Flaatedal opened his account for the season with a composed finished from the penalty spot, and in the final moments sophomore Evan Conway scored to tie the game. Overtime proved to be a back and forth encounter with chances at both ends, but unfortunately we conceded and came away without a point, which didn’t properly reflect great resilience and a convincing performance.

We brought those positives to Sunday’s match versus Bradley, a team known for their athleticism, set pieces and long throw-ins, and seeing the ball in the air a lot. It was a hot afternoon, but come the second half, you could tell our good possession play started to take its toll on the opposition’s legs. 80 minutes in, it stayed even at 0-0, but finally Evan Conway found himself on the end of a cross to score his second of the season and see us take the lead! Along with that, senior Nick Moon also opened his account after taking on three players convincingly from half way and confidently slotting the ball into the goal to round off a proper performance and a great result for the team. A good three points, along with some bad music selections from Jaime Colin on the bus ride home, we were already looking forward to next weekend’s home match versus in-state rivals Green Bay for the Chancellors Cup.

We had a full week to prepare for the match, which always stirred up emotions from past matches between the two sets of teams. Saturday came and it was a beautiful night, where we were physically and mentally ready to fight in front of a great crowd at Engelmann stadium. The match took little time to get going and both teams saw chances go astray, but neither was willing to make a mistake that would cost a result. Green Bay scored, and the crowd came to a hush as the team looked to regroup and find a second of magic to tie up the match. Again, never count out this team, because come the final 10 seconds senior defender Jonathan Stadler found himself burying the ball into the goal off a corner kick; both the stands and our bench erupt in celebration and we found ourselves in another overtime match. Unfortunately the celebrations were cut short, after Green Bay found a goal a few minutes into overtime to snag the Chancellors Cup from right under our noses. It had a complete sour taste in all our mouths and although we as a team were very disappointed in the result, it fueled us for our next home game against UMKC in three days time.

Both teams surprisingly came out flying out of the gates the start of Tuesday’s game, considering it was an out-of-conference match up. We took first blood from a brilliant finish from senior striker Reid Stevenson, which saw him run over and celebrate with his sister on the sideline. He always said he was a lover, not a fighter. UMKC continued to look to move the ball and keep possession, and they were able to tie the game up and even score a second to make the match 2-1. Luckily though, junior defender sergeant Svensson scored a header off a Latinovich free kick in the final few minutes, and here we were in yet another overtime situation. Both teams looked to play and keep possession, looking to break lines and play good football, which made for a great match up all game. Overtime ran out and we came out with a point against a good team that had only conceded one goal all season before meeting us.

This past weekend we made the long and tedious journey to Belmont University in Tennessee, but we were looking forward to Horizon League play once again and wanted to make an impact. It was hot and humid down in Nashville at midday, and 11 hours on the bus over the course of two days didn’t help our legs, but we were determined to fight for a result. Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way, and we ended up losing to Belmont 2-1. Again, another game we saw slip by at our finger tips.

A record of 2-3-2 after the first third of the season, which continues to fly by day by day, isn’t a terrible place to be in. Each game we felt we outplayed the opposition, had more shots and had the better chances, and now it’s just finding a way to get back to the basics and find a way to put the ball in the goal. We’ll regroup, and look forward to the LeWang Trophy against Northern Illinois this upcoming Wednesday!

Thanks for tuning in once again!

-Frankie

Nights Under the Lights: Entry No. 1

Finding Our Feet

Hello past, present, and future Panthers, as well as our fans!

We hope you’ve had enjoyable, warm and safe summers all round, because soon enough we will be seeing shorter days and cooler temperatures here in the city of Milwaukee. The season of fall is upon us, but what does that really mean? It means that the UWM men’s soccer team’s season has kicked off and has fired straight into action! A team with huge ambitions, exciting expectations, and 32 passionate young men who fight for each other everyday, along with coaches who drive us to be our very best at each and every training session. No one will want to miss out on the “Nights Under the Lights” this season at Engelmann stadium.

In the past we’ve had former soccer players write up some articles for a blog, which looks to give updates on our Men’s soccer team. Former captain Dustin Ashley’s “Back Line Blog” and Laurie Bell’s “Bell’s Blog,” are a couple that come to mind within the last five years. Personally I think it’s important to have a connection and interact with our fans as much as possible, and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve decided to pick up and continue this tradition!

If you don’t know me, my name is Francesco Saporito and I play on the men’s soccer team here at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. A little bit about me: I’m in my Junior year here at UWM, I’m an international student who was born and raised in the great white north of Edmonton Canada, and I major in Kinesiology, which is involved with sports sciences and sport rehabilitation. Some interests of mine other than soccer include travelling and exploring different cultures, playing board games with my family when I’m back home, and hanging out with my buddies, which usually consists of winning each round of Mario Kart against fellow teammates Josh Kaye and Alex Eastman, but that story is for another day.

But enough about me, and let’s rewind about a month ago to a dry, warm, August day where you pass by Engelmann field and can see our team running shuttles across the field, or otherwise known as EuroFits, as our strength and conditioning coach, Matt Holt, loves to call them. He’s another big part of our team’s project behind the scenes that many fail to see, so a special shout out to him because he’s a special individual who works his tail off for all our athlete’s here at UWM. Captain’s training starts, and you see many returning and familiar faces, as well as a large chunk of new faces around the locker room. These days we spent playing small-sided games, running shuttles across the pitch, and a couple team activities off the pitch to get everyone together prior to the real thing come August 8th. There’s also nothing like a good run to Bradford Beach during captain’s training, where you see co-captain Jonathon Stadler sprint off ahead of the group, demanding more from each of us going into preseason.

Finally we hit the first day of official training with Coach Kelderman, Zenoni, and Rey, who many of you fans I’m sure are familiar with. Both Coach Kelderman and Coach Zenoni have entered their sixth year at the helm of our team here at UWM, while Coach Rey is our goalkeeper coach who played with me during my freshmen year here at UWM. Training started off very good, competitive, energetic, and you could see there was eagerness amongst the group. My freshmen year in 2015 we failed to qualify for post-season conference play, and last season we established third in regular season play, but lost out to UIC in overtime of the post-season semi final match. This year, as I mentioned earlier has even higher expectations, and we’re aiming for nothing but higher this season. Our first preseason match saw us take a 2-2 draw away to a team, which appeared in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2016 season, Loyola, where we won in penalty shootout. Our second preseason match featured our first ever “Black and Gold” game where we played an intersquad amongst ourselves. Finally, our third and final preseason match saw us take on another NCAA tournament team from the 2016 season in the University of Dayton, where we won a thrilling 5-3 match. And just like that, a grueling, yet very positive preseason was over.

Finally, this past weekend we opened up the regular season with two home matches against two teams we matched up against last year in Eastern Illinois on Friday night, and Western Illinois on Sunday afternoon. Both were determined to bring their A-game, knowing that we’d come away with victories against both of them last season, but our group was ready for the challenges ahead. Eastern Illinois came with an organized, defensive plan, and were set on making it a frustrating night for us. Regardless, we persevered and we determined to fight for a positive result. With 4 minutes to play, freshmen Henrik Fennefoss, a very flamboyant and deceptive midfielder from Norway, found himself on the end of Nick Anguil-Andriacchi header and bang, just like that, 1-nil up! 3 points, and we looked to go again Sunday afternoon. Come Sunday, we hit a bit of a roadblock against another very defensive set team in Western Illinois. Unfortunately we went down 1-nil very early, but clawed our way back to 1-1 from a very nice finish from freshmen Vuk Latinovich. Another game where shots were highly in our favor, but we couldn’t quite find that second goal and took away a point each. All in all, it was a positive weekend where we were able to find our feet a little and find areas to work on in training, which is exactly what we did leading up to our trip to Evansville this weekend! Excited, hungry, and keen to take away nothing but six points from both matches, don’t forget to tune in to ESPN3 and watch our this Friday night and Sunday afternoon!

Thanks for tuning in!

-Frankie