At long last, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team won their first home game of the 2015 season, defeating Northwestern 2-1 in a comeback victory on Wednesday night at the McClimon Complex.

In the regular season finale in Madison, the Badgers (5-10-3 overall, 2-3-3 Big Ten) went down 1-0 in the 20th minute following a goal from the Wildcats’ forward Mike Roberge. NU (7-8-2, 4-4-0) went on the counter, and midfielder Joey Calistri played a ball across the face of the goal for Roberge to stab home from close range.

Wisconsin responded five minutes from halftime. After Mike Catalano’s penalty kick was saved, Isaac Schlenker rebounded first and kicked a cross to Luc Kazmierczak, who headed it in the goal for the tie.

The game-winning goal for the Badgers came in the 68th minute when sophomore forward Mark Segbers received a pass from captain Drew Conner at the top of the box, turned his defender and powered a shot past the NU goalkeeper. Segbers’ goal gave Wisconsin their first and only home win of the season.

The Badgers begin post-season play in the Big Ten Tournament with a match at Indiana on Sunday.

Notes

• Sophomore forward Mark Segbers notched his third goal of the season, but it’s his first time finding the back of the net since Sept. 30 against UW-Green Bay. With the goal, Segbers has now moved into second on the team in points tallied with 10 for the season.
• Not only did the Badgers pick up the elusive home victory, but two players had some firsts of their own. Luc Kazmierczak scored his first career goal Wisconsin when his header tied the game at one. The provider for that goal, Isaac Schlenker, picked up his first career assist in a UW jersey.
• Coming into the game, the Badgers were sitting in last place in the Big Ten standings, meaning they were staring down the possibility of playing a play-in game for the Big Ten Tournament. But with the win over Northwestern, Wisconsin leapfrogged Michigan State and Penn State to claim the seventh seed for the Big Ten Tournament, setting up a rematch with Indiana who they played on Saturday.

Quotable

UW head coach John Trask on the team’s performance:

“As I reminded the guys going into the game, there’s no question we are not an eighth or ninth place team in this conference. It was a tremendous performance against a very good Northwestern team.”

Trask on the team’s comeback:

“This team’s lived a lot of different things this season, and they continue to grow and continue to get better. But now it’s tournament and one and done.”

Segbers on his game-winning goal:

“It felt really nice, especially with it being the seniors’ last home game. They put in so much work and effort to building our team up and keeping our spirits up. So it was just a little thank you to them.”

Segbers on the confidence boost from the goal:

“I think it’s a good kind of character builder and it’s awesome with the timing right before the [Big Ten] tournament.”

Segbers on the upcoming rematch against Indiana:

“I think it’s kind of just a great way to show that we’re a better team than the first time we played them. It’s gonna be a nice little revenge match.”

Senior captain Drew Conner on playing his last home game:

“I’m going to miss it. It’s a beautiful field. This season was pretty rough playing at home, but over the last four years it’s been an awesome place to play.”