OAK CREEK, Wis. — After years of opening-day heartbreak, the Milwaukee Area Technical College men's soccer team finally flipped the script Saturday, battling Waubonsee Community College to a 3-3 draw in its 2025-26 season opener at home.

The result marked MATC's first non-loss to start a season since 2018 and its first draw since 2023 — a potential turning point for the Stormers program under head coach Aron Gentry.

"I would certainly like today to be a turning point for the program, but we are going to use it more as a stepping stone and build as we go, one brick at a time," Gentry said. "If it propels us to having something greater at the end of the year, then fantastic."

Unlike last season, when the Stormers often fell behind early, they came out aggressive in the opening half. Over the first 45 minutes, MATC outshot Waubonsee 5-3 on shots on goal, converting two of those chances to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

Freshman midfielder Reynaldo Paniagua opened the scoring at the 28-minute mark, finishing a well-placed pass from fellow freshman Edwin Espinosa. Less than five minutes later, freshman forward Adam Turay capitalized on a scramble in front of the net to extend the lead. Freshman goalkeeper Maxwell Clarksen anchored the defense with three saves and no goals allowed in the first half.

MATC carried its momentum into the second half when Paniagua buried a free kick from about 20 yards out at the 56-minute mark, giving the Stormers a 3-0 advantage with roughly 34 minutes to play.

However, a halftime substitution in goal — inserting freshman keeper Sam Kulibert for Clarksen — coincided with a late surge from Waubonsee, which scored three unanswered goals over the final 25 minutes to force the draw.

"We played hard and we played well," Paniagua said. "The second half was a little rough, but we kept fighting."

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MATC (0-0-1) will travel to Triton College at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.