Usually when a team is down and in need of a pick-me-up, they look to their senior team leaders to give them a boost of energy. But these Badgers are different.
When the Wisconsin men’s soccer team has needed a goal or a spark, it has been the team’s freshmen that have stepped up thus far this season. Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Rutgers (3-2-0) was no different.
Wisconsin (1-4-0) freshmen forwards and childhood friends Tom Barlow and Mark Segbers were the two Badgers who found the back of the night Friday night, and the two putting points on the scoreboard is nothing new for this team. Seven of the nine total goals the Badgers have scored this year have come from freshmen. Barlow and Segbers have combined for six of those seven.
So, while the nationally televised overtime match ended in heartbreak for UW, the team can still take stock in the freshmens’ early success in their offensive attack.
Barlow put the Badgers up 1-0 in the 12th minute when he beat the Rutgers goalkeeper one on one and fired a shot into the open net. Then, with the Badgers down 2-1 in the 89th minute, Segbers took a pass from senior defender David Caban, put it into the back of the net to send the game into overtime. Barlow and Segbers also combined for six of the team’s 13 shots on goal.
Segbers has been on a hot streak to start the season, and he has fed off the taller Barlow well. The pairing of the two up top has been a solid match, and is the main reason why both players, especially Segbers, have been able to produce so early on in their freshman seasons.
“We have been waiting for Mark to get here,” junior midfielder Drew Conner said. “And with Tom up top, he works very nice off a big holding forward and makes very good runs off the ball. He’s got that killer instinct and he’s been absolutely crucial for us this season.”
It’s no coincidence that Segbers and Barlow have been playing so well, even though they have both just started their college soccer careers. The two of them both grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and have played with and against each other since they were in elementary school.
They had chemistry before they even stepped onto the pitch, and it shows.
“Mark and I, both being from St. Louis, have been playing together since we were 10,” Barlow said. “We grew up playing together so it has been easier with him. I like working with him on top, but it’s also coming together with the other guys too so both of us are starting to play better.”
Growing up together has not only made the chemistry between them better, but it also has made the transition from the high school to the college game a much smoother one, while most initially struggle with the change.
“It’s awesome to have him up there with me. It’s almost like playing back at home again against him,” Segbers said. “Playing with someone I know and I am so familiar with, I feel as if sometimes I know what he is going to do before he even does it. It just makes it that much easier knowing where he is going to go and being able to feed off his energy.”
The pre-existing chemistry of Barlow and Segbers has not only helped the pair, but it has also helped the chemistry of the team grow at a faster rate. With 12 new freshmen coming in after losing quite a few players from last year’s NCAA tournament team, it’s a tall task for everyone to be on the same page so early in the season.
Yet Conner sees the connection the two freshman have as a model for the rest of the team on how they need to work together. The team having stronger chemistry will ultimately be what helps turn the season around for the Badgers.
“Their exchange in space and how they move off each other is just fun to watch. But that’s the kind of chemistry we need to be building throughout the team,” Conner said. “When you get a bunch of new guys in, that’s the kind of chemistry we need to work on in other spots of the field. We all need to get on the same page, and if we can do that all over the field, I think things will look up for us.”
