UW-Milwaukee wins League Men's Soccer Championship, advances to NCAA Tournament

Nov. 13, 2005

(#2 seed) UW-Milwaukee 1, (#2 seed) Detroit 0
Detroit, Mich. - Dale Weiler's six-yard header propelled second-seeded UW-Milwaukee past top seed Detroit, 1-0, in the final match of the 2005 Horizon League Men's Soccer Championship. The Panthers improved to 13-4-4 overall while Detroit drops to 12-6-2.

Weiler re-directed Craig Mallace's free kick from near midfield, beating Detroit netminder Sasha Boskovic for a 1-0 advantage at the 62:53 mark. Mallace earned his League-leading tenth assist of the year.

The Panthers took advantage of a strong wind at their backs in the final 45 minutes, weathering the Titan attack in the closing stages of the opening half.

Weiler, who missed ten games due to a knee injury before returning to action last week, was almost knocked out of the game after a collision in front of the Panther bench in the first minute of the match. He missed most of the rest of the half with hand and neck injuries, but returned to the field just before halftime and claimed the hero's role with his header midway through the second half.

Weiler now has three goals this season, with all proving to be match-winners. Weiler had the deciding tallies versus Bradley (a 3-2 decision on Sept. 13) and also in his return to the field versus Marquette on Oct. 31.

Fernstrum recorded his ninth shutout of the season, making a game-saving save on Aaron Smith's header with six minutes to play. Jason Massoglia's follow-up attempt went wide, and UW-Milwaukee held off the Titans in the closing minutes to secure the victory.Fernstrum earned Tournament Most Valuable Player accolades, pacing a quartet of Panthers on the All-Tournament Team. The freshman from Green Bay, Wis., was joined by Weiler, Neil Dombrowski and Steve Bode, while Massoglia, Boskovic and Andrew Ornoch represented Detroit on the 11-player honor roll. Wright State's Tony Labudovski and Josh Grossman plus UW-Green Bay teammates Joshua Okoampa and Bati Tola rounded out the group.

The Panthers outshot UDM 9-6, avenging a 2-1 loss to the Titans during the regular season (Oct. 2). UWM also exacted revenge for its only other League loss in Friday's semifinal, ousting UW-Green Bay 1-0 after suffering a loss by the same score on Oct. 26.

UW-Milwaukee earns the League's automatic entry into the NCAA tournament, marking the school's fifth consecutive trip to the national summit. UWM is one of only ten schools to post at least one victory in each of the last three tournaments, including a 3-2 triumph at the University of San Francisco last fall.

Box Score

2005 Horizon League Men's Soccer All-Tournament Team
Tony Labudovski, Wright State
Josh Grossman, Wright State
Joshua Okoampa, UW-Green Bay
Bati Tola, UW-Green Bay
Andrew Ornoch, Detroit
Jason Massoglia, Detroit
Sasha Boskovic. Detroit
Neil Dombrowski, UW-Milwaukee
Steve Bode, UW-Milwaukee
Dale Weiler, UW-Milwaukee
MVP - Grant Fernstrum, UW-Milwaukee