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Bavarians blank Twin Stars, start season in style

05/19/2013, 10:30am CDT
By ERIC ANDERSON
Bavarian SC

Craig Peltonen's first National Premier Soccer League match as Milwaukee Bavarians coach couldn't have gone much better.

Dustin Page (Kettle Moraine Lutheran), Chris Madsen (Brookfield Central/Marquette) and UW-Milwaukee's Aaron Horvat (Waukesha Catholic Memorial) scored and Jacob Bye (Whitnall) posted the clean sheet as the Bavarians blanked the Minnesota Twin Stars 3-0 in a Midwest Region Central Division opener Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

"It was good stuff all the way around," said Peltonen, the Marian University coach who succeeded Andreas Davi at the helm.

But that might have been much different start if not for Bye.

Just four minutes in, the Twin Stars got a player in behind the Milwaukee backline. Bye came off his line, and the Wright State goalkeeper made a big save on the breakaway to keep it scoreless and "turned things in a different direction," Peltonen said.

Three minutes later, the visitors were ahead. Marquette midfielder Sebastian Jansson served in a corner kick that found Page at the far post, and the Northern Illinois center back headed past the Minnesota keeper for the lead.

The Bavarians doubled their lead in the 23rd, finishing off a counter attack that started when Wright State striker Justin Laird (Hartford) won the ball at midfield. He carried the ball into the attacking end, then switched the field with a long diagonal ball to Jansson on the left. Jansson's first-time cross connected with Madsen with in the box, and the captain turned his defender, fired and finished to make it 2-0.

"It was an excellent transitional play and a big-time finish by the veteran," Peltonen said.

On a warm afternoon, the Twin Stars kept pushing to get one back, but Milwaukee hit them on another counter in the final quarter hour to secure all three points.

UW-Milwaukee's Dorian O'Lochlayne (Milwaukee Marquette) started the sequence in the middle of the field and got the ball to fellow second-half sub Cheenuj Shong (Milwaukee Ronald Reagan). The UW-Green Bay forward split two defenders with a pass to the onrushing Horvat, who ripped a shot from the top of the box in at the far post in the 78th.

"That just took the wind out of their sails," Peltonen said of the Twin Stars.

Bye, who came up with another fine save in the first half, and the Bavarians' backline earned plenty of praise from Peltonen for the way they played against a quality Minnesota side.

"They're a solid team, they did a lot of good things as well," Peltonen said. "We just were organized, our back four communicated fairly well. ... That helped because the Twin Stars had a lot of movement off the ball, a lot of interchanging, and it could have caused us some issues had we not been so tight and communicating with each other."

Milwaukee is back in action at 4 p.m. today against the Quad City Eagles in their home opener in Glendale. Quad City slipped past Eau Claire Aris 3-2 in its opener Saturday night in La Crosse.

Madsen was subbed out early in the second half as he is nursing a hamstring injury. But his replacement, UWM's Robbie Boyd (Milwaukee Marquette), was injured less than 10 minutes later and Shong came on for him. Peltonen said Madsen should play Sunday, while Boyd is questionable.

MILWAUKEE BAVARIANS: Jacob Bye; Luke Davey, Michael Alfano, Dustin Page, Adam Hermsen; Sebastian Jansson, Riley Weiner, Sam Krenzien, Aaron Horvat; Justin Laird (Dorian O'Lochlayne), Chris Madsen (Robbie Boyd, Cheenuj Shong). Substitute not used: Mac Wheeler (GK).

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