Milwaukee City Wire

An early goal by Angel Gongora gave the Milwaukee Panthers men's soccer team a promising start against No. 16-ranked Virginia, but the Cavaliers responded with two unanswered goals and secured a late winner to defeat Milwaukee 3-2 at Klöckner Stadium on Wednesday night.

Milwaukee (2-4-5) opened the scoring just under three minutes into the match when Bienvenu Djunga was fouled in the box, leading to a penalty kick converted by Gongora. Virginia (6-1-2), which remains unbeaten at home this season, leveled the score in the 29th minute and then took a 2-1 lead before halftime.

Daiki Kumakawa brought Milwaukee back into contention with a long-range strike early in the second half, tying the game at 2-2. However, Virginia found a decisive third goal in the 74th minute and held on for victory despite several key saves from Milwaukee goalkeeper Nic Diana.

"Absolutely proud of the guys for their effort today," said head coach Kris Kelderman. "We played against a team that's potentially a National Championship opponent, on their home field. I couldn't have asked for a better effort from our guys. We had a pretty good game plan – a fair amount more of a defensive approach and the guys played it to a T. We gave ourselves a chance. Excellent effort. I told the guys we proved that we can hang with some of the best in the country tonight and we can take this and build our confidence going into Saturday's conference game. I think we are all excited to face the first-place team in the Horizon League Saturday."

Kelderman also commented on specific moments during play: "The goal is to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance – play for one play or two plays and the guys to step up," he said. "Djunga drew the penalty, which was great, and we had a 1-0 lead. And it played into our hands – playing a defensive style. And Daiki had a world-class goal today. We tried to hang in there as long as we could, but UVA is a great team. We almost pulled off a tie … came close to a win … but losing 3-2, I told the guys they did the program well. They represented the program in excellent fashion, and they made their coach very proud tonight."

Virginia outshot Milwaukee 29-8 overall and had ten shots on target compared to six for Milwaukee. The Cavaliers also held an advantage of ten corner kicks to one.

The match marked Kelderman's return to his alma mater; he starred at Virginia from 1986–1989 and helped them win their first NCAA title.

Milwaukee returns home Saturday for another key matchup against Purdue Fort Wayne, who are currently undefeated at 5-0-4 and sit atop the Horizon League standings.