ST. PAUL, Minn. – Nic Diana recorded his second consecutive shutout in goal to help the Milwaukee men's soccer team pick up a 0-0 draw against St. Thomas Tuesday evening at South Field.
 
The Panthers (1-2-4) had the better of the offensive chances (3-1-3) in the defensive standoff, yet had to settle for the scoreless draw when the Tommies matched them with their third shutout of the season to continue what is a school-record start to the campaign for the home side.
 
"To get a point, on the road, on a 90-degree day when you are on turf which makes it even hotter … I thought it was a very good defensive effort by our team," head coach Kris Kelderman said. "Specifically, the goalkeeping and our backline. That's our second game in a row where we've had a shutout, which is not easy to do in college soccer regardless of who you play. But it was a very good effort from our guys in a not-so-easy environment."
 
Diana was not called upon often, as the MKE defense played very solidly in front of him. He was needed for just two saves but made both to record his ninth career blanking on a day where temperatures were in the 90's at kickoff.
 
"First things first, defensively we have been very sound and that is something we are pretty pleased with right now," Kelderman said. "We keep emphasizing that if you're hard to play against and keep yourself in the game, you give yourself a chance to win the game. That's what we have been doing, we just have to get a little bit sharper in the attacking third. Once we get a little bit healthier and get some numbers back, we are hoping that comes around and we will be a little more complete."
 
Both teams took a while to get going, as St. Thomas controlled possession for much of the first 20 minutes, yet mainly passed the ball around its own defensive third.
 
The Panthers started to create more opportunities as the half wore on, forcing a handful of corner kicks. One of them produced the top early chance, with Alejandro Zuniga lobbing a loose ball just over the crossbar in the 26^th minute.
 
The best opportunity for either side the entire contest occurred in the 38^th minute, started by Pavle Ivkovic from the back. He played a long ball down the right sideline to Ryan Berghauer, who attempted to blast one to the far post. The ball appeared to be headed in but was knocked away with a diving save by the St. Thomas keeper.
 
Neither team was able to sustain much on offense early in the second half. Milwaukee's best chances came down the stretch. It was Zuniga again in the 74^th minute, sending a shot low through the wall that was pushed just wide. In the 81^st, another long ball gave the Panthers a solid look. Angel Gongora got it started from behind the midfield line, ahead to Bienvenu Djunga. His cross found a streaking run from Fernando Pirry, but the final defender knocked away the shot from inside the box that looked to have the keeper beaten.
 
For the game, the Panthers ended up with slim advantages of 9-8 in shots and 7-6 in corner kicks. Both teams were whistled for nine fouls, while Milwaukee was still able to produce a result despite the home side recording 57 percent possession on the day. Zuniga led the way with three shots; Berghauer added two.
 
"There were not a lot of shots, but we had one really good look I'd like to think that we should have finished," Kelderman said. "But at this time, we are just a bit challenged with finishing some chances offensively. We went into today's game a couple of numbers down, missing a couple of starters in our front line. That hurt us a bit in our attack today."
 
Up next, the team returns to Horizon League play on the weekend, heading to Indiana to take on IU Indy Saturday. Game time against the Jaguars is set for 4 p.m. CT.