After nearly 70 minutes of scoreless soccer, the 24th-ranked UW-Milwaukee Panthers found the back of the net and held on late to top Valpo 1-0 Sunday at Eastgate Field in the Crusaders final exhibition tune-up of the 2006 season.

The Brown and Gold kick off the regular season back at Eastgate on Friday night at 5:00 p.m. against DePaul.

Sunday, UW-Milwaukee's Steve Sperl punched a point-blank cross from Andre Francois past freshman Ryan Schwarz (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) in the 70th minute for the match-winner. Both teams had several scoring chances throughout the second half, but Panther keeper Grant Fernstrum was up to every challenge, making seven saves and recording the shutout.

The Crusaders out-shot the Panthers 14-12, firing seven shots on goal to only four from UW-Milwaukee. Paul Leitelt (Munster, Ind./Munster) led the Valpo offense with four shots and D.J. Catrow (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) added three, with two on frame.

Beginning with the 2007 season, Valpo and UW-Milwaukee will be frequent foes with the Crusaders moving to the Horizon League, a league the Panthers have won each of the last four seasons.

Friday's Valpo match against DePaul can be heard live on 95.1 FM, WVUR, and online at www.valpo.edu/wvur. Pregame coverage of the 5:00 p.m. tilt is scheduled to begin at 4:50 p.m.

box score
cumulative exhibition stats