Long-distance traveling is never easy for a team to overcome, especially when searching for their first win of the season. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s soccer team faced two Ivy League schools in the Dartmouth Classic looking to rid the goose egg in their record.

In the first game of the two-game trip, the Panthers faced off against Dartmouth University in a match that looked to be a challenge against the 4-1-1 Big Green. UWM’s freshman Greg Rosenthal got the first shot of the game off but the Panthers could not find their offense in the first half.

After Panthers goalkeeper Ryan Germann saved two straight shots in three minutes Dartmouth came out with the first goal of the game in the eighth minute when Andrew Olsen earned his third goal of the season, giving Dartmouth the 1-0 lead that would end up being the final outcome of the match.

Germann had four saves in the first half and three in the second, preventing the Big Green from scoring another goal, but the Panther offense could not find the back of the net, getting 10 shots-on-goal.

In the second half the Panthers did step up the offense and out-shot Dartmouth 8-5. Zeke Dombrowski almost evened the match up in the 74th minute after a corner kick gave him a perfect header opportunity but the Big Green goalkeeper stopped it.

The rebound was also picked up by Dombrowski, but the shot was deflected by a Dartmouth defender.

"I thought we dominated, basically, the whole second half. Except for one mistake early on that kind of dug us a hole - and this is going to sound repetitive - but I guess if there is ever such a thing of winning when you actually lose, then today was an indication of that,” said Panther head coach Jon Coleman.

Another header in the 79th minute by Colin Baker sailed just wide and the Panthers fate seemed all but settled from there on out.

The men’s soccer team has never started a season 0-7; in fact, they have never started worse than 0-4. For their second game in New England, the Panthers faced the winless Bulldogs of Yale University looking to jumpstart their season before heading home to face Horizon League newcomer Valparaiso.

Junior Travis Phillips sparked the Panthers immediately against their Ivy League opponent, scoring his first goal of the season just 1:03 into the match. Nkuti Ndely was credited with the assist, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

Yale’s Tyler Guse scored his first of two goals in the game just four minutes later to tie the game in the fifth minute of play. Ryan Germann allowed two goals and earned two saves in the first half with Yale leading going into half time 2-1.

Guse scored his second goal of the game in the 60th minute giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage that would earn them their first win of the season and send the Panthers to 0-8 on the season.

Martin Castro led the Panthers with five shots-on-goal while Phillips added four shots, two of which were on-goal.

The Panthers will face Valparaiso University for their first Horizon League game this Saturday at Engelmann Field, the match starts at 7 p.m. and will be the first time UWM faces Valparaiso in a Horizon League match.

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