Top-ranked New Mexico outlasts UW-Milwaukee in penalty kicks to advance in NCAA Championship
Nov. 23, 2005
(#2 seed) New Mexico 2, UW-Milwaukee 2New Mexico advances in penalty kicks, 5-4
Albuquerque, N.M. - Horizon League champion UW-Milwaukee saw its dreams of a Sweet 16 appearance come to an end Tuesday night, as top-ranked and second seed New Mexico eliminated the Panthers from the NCAA Championship tournament.
The match goes into the record books as a 2-2 tie after 110 minutes, with the Lobos advancing 5-3 in penalty kicks. New Mexico advances in the tournament with a 15-1-3 ledger while UW-Milwaukee sees its season end in the second round for the fourth consecutive season. The Panthers close the 2005 campaign at 14-4-5.
UNM netminder Mike Graczyk's save of a Billy Meier attempt in the third round proved to be the difference as all five New Mexico shooters found the net in the shootout.
UW-Milwaukee wasn't fazed by the Lobos' ranking, racing to a 2-0 lead by scoring on its first two shots of the match. Troy Spielmann took a Dale Weiler pass and beat Graczyk for his first goal of the year, a blast from 15 yards out 4:04 into the match. Weiler added a second assist by finding Steve Sperl for a header---Sperl's sixth marker of the season---at 5:45. New Mexico answered at 18:35 when Andrew Boyens knocked in a rebound off Jeff Rowland's shot for his sixth goal of the year, pulling the Lobos to within 2-1 at intermission. The tally was the first allowed by the Panthers in 468 minutes as UW-Milwaukee blanked Marquette 4-0 in the regular-season finale before posting three shutouts in the Horizon League Championship tournament and defeating Bradley 2-0 in the opening round of the NCAA summit.
The Panthers held New Mexico at bay until the 79:07 mark, when Rowland's free kick beat UW-Milwaukee goalkeeper Grant Fernstrum. Rowland's 14th goal of the year leveled the match at 2-2 and forced overtime.The teams battled through 20 minutes of extra time without a goal, forcing penalty kicks to decide which team advances to become one of the third round's Sweet 16 participants. Neil Dombrowski and Weiler scored on their attempts before Graczyk stopped Meier's shot in the third round.
New Mexico dominated the stat sheet with a 26-7 advantage in shots and a 6-0 margin in corner kicks, but only eight of those 26 tries were on goal. Fernstrum registered six saves, including a pair in the second overtime session to prolong the Panthers' season.
The final result continued a difficult trend for the Panthers this season. UW-Milwaukee lost only one match decided in regulation (a 2-1 defeat to Detroit on Oct. 2), but went 0-3-5 in contests requiring overtime or penalty kicks.
Graczyk registered one save during the 110 minutes of action for the Lobos, who move on to face 15th seed Cal State-Northridge in the next round. CSUN defeated UC Santa Barbara 3-2 on Tuesday.
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