By Jeremy Lubus
Asst. Sports Editor
On a windy, brisk night the Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s soccer team fell early and could not find the back of the net in the second half as they fell to their neighbors to the south at home, 5-1, against Northern Illinois Thursday night.
Just three minutes in the Panthers (6-9-2) fell behind when Huskies’ Juan Hoyos chipped in the game’s first goal over Milwaukee keeper John Shakon.
The Panthers rallied in the 20th minute behind sophomore Cody Banks strike from 25-yards out to tie the game at one-a-piece.
However, the Huskies came roaring back after drawing one of the 15 Milwaukee fouls. Engebreth Faerden took full advantage and scored on a free kick.
“We conceded four goals on set pieces, which was really disappointing because we knew that was one of NIU’s strengths,” said UWM head coach Chris Whalley. “We scouted them, we saw it, but we didn’t deal with it well. I was really disappointed with the way we defended on set pieces. I thought in the context of the game, we played better, but the scoreboard shows they were the better team on the night.”
NIU then turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 lead after Faerden drilled another free kick followed by a goal by Finn Jor 10-minutes later. The Huskies (9-6-2) fifth goal was an own goal.
“We have to be switched on, be focused and be ready to work hard on Saturday,” said Whalley. “The nice thing is, we have a chance to make it right real quickly. The reason why I scheduled these two games late in the year is because I wanted to let the guys know we have to play mistake-free at this time of the season. If you make mistakes in games you are going to get punished like this evening.”
