In college football, it has become customary for teams to schedule rather weak opponents as a strategy to get the most wins under their belts as possible. However, that strategy can hurt when conference play rolls around and the team hasn't experienced a "real" game.

The same principles can be applied to other collegiate sports.

The Wisconsin men's soccer team has lined up early season opponents that will not only gear them up for high-powered Big Ten opponents like Indiana and Michigan, but will prepare them for what play will be like come tournament time.

The Badgers got two solid wins under their belts last weekend when they defeated UNLV — and especially Drake — both by scores of 2-1.

"[Drake is] a very good team, and I would guess they're going to be right there come tournament time," Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman said. "They're a quality side. There's a lot of team spirit, a lot of fight in that group and a lot of talent, and that's a good combination to have."

UW will get another opportunity to see a potential tournament team this weekend when it takes on No. 12 Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening game of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Classic this afternoon.

"When we put the schedule together, we want to play the best teams that we can so that prepares us for the Big Ten regular season, the Big Ten tournament and the postseason," Rohrman said.

The Knights defeated then-No. 15 Boston College 3-1 and shutout Villanova 2-0 last weekend to get off to a quick start this season.

The Badgers may have their hands full with Fairleigh Dickinson's Alejandro Bedoya, who had two goals and one assist last weekend, good enough to make the Soccer America Men's Team of the Week.

While Wisconsin got two wins to start the season last weekend, the question of a steady goal-scorer still remains. Junior captain Aaron Hohlbein and sophomore Sho Fujita each notched two-goal games.

After a couple of seasons in which the Badgers relied mainly on two players, they will now rely on a handful of players to score. The new style may continue to work as long as someone steps up every game.

"You never expect your central defenders to score two goals in one game. We'll take it when we can get it," Rohrman said. "We're certainly hoping that more guys will do their fair share of the scoring this year."

The most added pressure is on the forwards, especially juniors Reid Johnson and Matt Jelacic. Johnson had seven shots last weekend, but could not capitalize. He did, however, assist on Fujita's game-winner on Sunday.

"The thing that I told Reid was just to keep working hard," Rohrman said. "[He's] in the right places and it's going to come. He's had a very good preseason … and he's going to score some goals."

"There's always more pressure on the forwards because we're the ones expected to score," Jelacic said. "But we have to work together as a team. Whoever gets the call — it doesn't matter to any of us. We just want to score more goals. We're not really looking at anybody individually; we're just kind of hoping everybody steps it up."

UW will also take on Oakland Sunday in Milwaukee. The Grizzlies dropped their season opener 4-0 at the hands of Cal State Northridge last Saturday before falling 3-1 to San Diego Monday.

"I think the game on Sunday is going to be just as hard as the game on Friday," Jelacic said. "Whether we win or lose on Friday, it's going to be hard, even though they may not look as good."

The Badgers will need to shut down Oakland co-captain Chris Edwards, who notched 28 points a year ago, more than double the total of anyone else on the team.

Oakland may not be as strong a team as Fairleigh Dickinson, but no team can be overlooked — as the Badgers found out last season — and a presumably tough match against the Knights Friday will make Sunday's a little harder.

"The last couple years, we've certainly taken a couple losses against teams we felt we were better than," Rohrman said. "But [Oakland] is a good team. A couple of years ago, they made the tournament. They're a very difficult team to play."

The Badgers will have to fight their way through what should be a physical battle to gain the win Sunday.

Host school UW-Milwaukee will also take on the Knights and Grizzlies. The Panthers and Badgers do not square off until Oct. 4.