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The UW-Green Bay men's soccer team secured a home match for the Horizon League tournament and will head into the postseason coming off a win over the previously unbeaten conference champions. Meanwhile, UW-Milwaukee saw its season come to an end after losing a regular-season finale that ended up being like a playoff game. And Marquette was ousted from its conference tournament and faces an eight-day wait to see if it will play again this fall.
Get all the highlights in our weekly recap of the Phoenix, Panthers and Golden Eagles.
Marquette (9-8-2, 7-2-0 Big East)
Sunday: No. 15 Louisville 1, Golden Eagles 0. Senior Colin Rolfe ran onto a long ball from Kenney Walker and slotted a shot past Marquette junior goalkeeper David Check (Mequon Homestead) in the 23rd minute as the Cardinals (12-5-2) tipped the Golden Eagles in a quarterfinal of the Big East Conference tournament at Valley Fields. Andre Boudreaux made two saves for Louisville, which recorded its fourth straight win and clean sheet despite playing the final 9 minutes with 10 men after Alexander Obbey was sent off for his second yellow card. Marquette had three shots with the man advantage, but the first was blocked, senior midfielder Calum Mallace shot high in the 85th and freshman midfielder Sebastian Jansson headed wide in the 86th. Perhaps the Golden Eagles' best chance for an equalizer came in the first minute of the second half, when junior midfielder Anthony Selvaggi's header off a cross from sophomore defender Paul Dillon clanged off the crossbar. Marquette will hope for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, but those chances look slim considering the Golden Eagles were 58th in this week's Ratings Percentage Index, which is used to select at-large teams for the 48-team tourney.
Up next: TBD. NCAA tournament field will be announced Nov. 14.
UW-Green Bay (10-6-1, 5-3-0 Horizon)
Saturday: Phoenix 1, Valparaiso 0 (OT). An own goal in the 94th minute at Santaga Stadium allowed Green Bay to hand the regular-season champion Crusaders (9-6-4, 5-1-2) their lone loss of the Horizon League season and earn the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament. On the decisive sequence, senior midfielder Stuart Grable (Neenah) played a ball in to junior defender Andrew Stone (Green Bay Preble), whose flick deflected off a Valparaiso defender and past goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck. It was just the third goal the Crusaders allowed in eight league matches this season. "I was not surprised at all the game went in to overtime," said Phoenix coach Kris Kelderman, whose team has won six of seven heading into the postseason. "Valpo does not concede a lot of goals, they’re a very good team defensively and to top that off, we’re not a team that’s known for producing a lot of goals." Junior Ryan Wehking made five saves in his fourth shutout of the season and the 18th of his career – just one behind the program record set by Adam Stikl from 2005 to '08.
Up next: Horizon League tournament quarterfinals – vs. Illinois-Chicago, 7 p.m. Tuesday.
UW-Milwaukee (6-10-2, 2-4-2 Horizon)
Wednesday: Panthers 1, Northern Illinois 0. Freshman Zach Stevenson scored his first career goal on a 30-yard strike in the 14th minute and junior John Shakon made nine saves for the clean sheet as UWM held off the Huskies (11-5-0) in a non-conference match played in a downpour at Engelmann Stadium. The win ended a seven-game winless streak (0-5-2) for the Panthers and gave them possession of the LeWang Trophy – UWM won all three of its traveling trophy matches this season, beating Marquette for the Milwaukee Cup and UW-Green Bay for the Chancellor's Cup. "It's fantastic to win the trophy and get all three, but the big thing is we got back in the win column," Panthers coach Chris Whalley said after his team's first win since Sept. 28. The lone goal came after UWM senior Ross Van Osdol played a free kick into the box that was cleared out by a Northern Illinois defender. Stevenson took a few touches, then let loose with a shot from distance that beat Huskies keeper Jordan Godsey to the upper right corner. Shakon, meanwhile, made seven of his saves after halftime in his third shutout of the season – the first clean sheet for the Panthers since Sept. 4, a span of 13 games.
Saturday: Illinois-Chicago 3, Panthers 1. Craig Krzyskowski had a pair of goals, the second coming five minutes after UWM had pulled within one, as the host Flames (9-6-3, 3-4-1) won to claim a spot in the Horizon League tournament and end the Panthers' season. Milwaukee would have qualified with a win or tie, and had hopes after sophomore defender James Ashcroft scored his second of the season in the 77th minute, but Krzyskowski sealed UIC's victory with his third goal of the year in the 82nd. "At 2-0, we showed great character to get back into the game," Whalley said. "But once again, we missed opportunities and we were knocked out with a sucker punch that was the third goal." Krzyskowski opened the scoring in the 57th off a cross from Eric Frazier, a former UWM player, and Ivan Stanisavljevic doubled the lead in the 62nd with his league-leading 10th of the season.
Up next: Season complete.
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