Box Score |  Notes

CHICAGO, Ill. (Oct. 3, 2008) - The nationally-ranked University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team suffered its first loss in Horizon League play since 2003 with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Loyola, Friday evening at Loyola Soccer Park.

The 22nd-ranked Panthers (9-2-2, 1-1 Horizon) saw their league-record 31-game league unbeaten streak come to an end, while this was also just the Ramblers (6-7, 2-0 Horizon) second win against Milwaukee ever.

"It was a streak that no one wanted to see end, but they all end at some point," Milwaukee head coach Michael Moynihan said. "You look at the competition within our conference, there have been a bunch of teams that have been getting better. Loyola already beat a top 20 team this season. The competition is getting tougher and tougher and, while we had excellent results in our non-conference schedule, we still didn't come into the conference season expecting it to be any easier."

Loyola tallied the match's lone goal in the 21st minute off a defensive miscue by Milwaukee. A cleared ball went to Jackie Viera, who beat a Panther defender around the corner and dribbled in on senior goalkeeper Erin Kane unabated. Kane stopped two shots by Viera, but her second shot rebounded to the far post where Cynthia Morote-Ariza was able to finish for the eventual game-winner.

"I don't think they had a legitimate shot in the second half," Moynihan said. "You look at the way we controlled the game and dominated the play, it's unfortunate to give up the goal that we did, Jackie (Viera) did a great job setting it up and fortunately that's all they needed."

The goal was a stark contrast to the rest of the game, as UWM dominated possession throughout and spent the majority of the game on the attack. In the first half, the Panthers outshot Loyola, 7-4. That figure jumped to 10-2 in the second half as Milwaukee dedicated more players forward and the Ramblers dropped more players in defense.

"They are a tough team to play," Moynihan said. "We committed numbers to our attack and they dropped everybody else back and packed it in, they were very physical. You need to be more precise, more committed to maybe getting a sloppy goal and we didn't do that."

UWM had a number of opportunities, but saw seven shots blocked in the congested attacking third. For the game, it generated a 17-6 shot advantage and 9-2 edge in corners.

Katie Groesch kept the Panthers scoreless with six saves in the game, including a lunging stop of a Sarah Hagen blast in the 85th minute across the mouth of the goal. Her clean sheet was the first by an opposing keeper on Milwaukee this season and ended a school-record streak of 21 games with a goal.

Kane finished with three saves on the evening.

Hagen and senior Sarah Teegarden each finished with a team-high five shots, while three of Hagen's attempts went on goal.

The Panther will look to rebound from just its second loss of the season Sunday, when it takes on Wright State in Dayton, Ohio.