DeKALB — The men’s soccer team (3-5, 0-0 Mid American Conference) fell to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers by a score of 1-0 Wednesday at home.

The game featured some hardware on the line as the two teams played for the LeWang Trophy, an annual matchup that is named after former Milwaukee assistant coach and former NIU Head Coach John LeWang.

Head Coach Ryan Swan was disappointed with his team’s performance but wasn’t too concerned with the overall result.

“We know we got a bit of a rivalry with Milwaukee and typically when there’s hardware on the line, it adds some spice to the game, but today I was very disappointed,” Swan said. “Something was missing today. We didn’t quite get the performance, and I don’t think we had the desire today that we’ve shown in the last few weeks. It feels like a step backwards, but we’re going to try not to have too much of an overreaction to it.”

The Panthers were the aggressors for most of the game, leading in shots in both periods and finishing with 14 total shots to just six from the Huskies.

The game was scoreless up until the 28:24 mark when Panthers junior forward Jaime Colin took a ball straight down the Huskies defense and past redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic for an unassisted goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead, which would end as the final score.

Dziedzic made his third straight start at the net, a position that Coach Swan feels the most confident in.

“The goalkeeping position has been strongest as far as competition goes; Drew [Donnally], Konrad [Dziedzic], and Christopher [Koninger] have all been training very hard and pushing each other, and the spot is open for all three to keep challenging for. I’ve been very happy with the goalkeeping, and I’m comfortable with any of the three in goal.”

The Huskies were led offensively by sophomore midfielder Christian Molina who finished with two shots, one of which was on goal. Sophomore midfielder Ethan Pitre also recorded a shot on goal, but the Huskies weren’t able to find the equalizer.

The team will get back on the field when they travel to face the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames 6 p.m. Tuesday in Chicago.