The bleachers at the McClimon Soccer Complex are getting a little lonely. The Wisconsin men’s soccer team finally returns home for the first time since Sept. 1 as the Badgers take on Eastern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
“It seems like longer than [three weeks], actually,” head coach Jeff Rohrman said.
“We haven’t been on our field for a while, so it will definitely feel good and it will be much needed.”
After winning the Rocky Rococo Classic, the Badgers packed their bags for five consecutive road tilts. The run included a championship at the Gonzaga Invite in Spokane, Wash., but also included the Badgers’ two losses of the season.
The most agonizing defeat came Wednesday night at the hands of UW-Green Bay. Despite out shooting the Phoenix 20-8, the Badgers lost 1-0 in overtime when UW-GB’s Adam Ben-Zikri put the ball past UW goalkeeper Eric Hanson.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin comes into tonight’s game sporting a 5-2 record and a No. 22 national ranking. These figures are promising, but Rohrman still is not satisfied.
“We’re certainly pleased to be at 5-2, but we certainly feel we should be 7-0,” Rohrman said.
“I think that we let [the UW-GB game] get away, and the same could be said for Valparaiso (a 2-1 loss) too.”
The key to the Badgers’ success has been its stifling defense. Headed by seniors Jon McGrady, Christian Poppert, Aymar Sinaise and Perry Smith, only 28 shots have been fired on goal against Wisconsin. Due to the play of sophomore goalkeeper Hanson, only six of those shots have hit the back of the net. Rohrman sees high potential in the play of Hanson.
“He potentially could be one of the best goaltenders in our conference,” he said.
While Rohrman is quick to praise the play of his defense and goaltending, he also acknowledges that they have gotten a little sloppy in the past couple of games.
“I would say overall, in the big picture, we’re pretty pleased with where we are, but at the same time the bar is raised pretty high for us right now,” Rohrman said.
On the other hand, the bar may not have been raised quite as high for the offense.
After losing last year’s leading scorers Dominic DaPra and Aaron Lauber to graduation, the green yet talented Badger offense figured to struggle. But so far, the returns have been quite impressive, despite not having a senior among the team’s top three scorers.
Sophomore forward Nick Van Sicklen has paced the team with nine points (three goals, three assists) and junior midfielder Erol Gardner has been the leading assist man, with five. Yet perhaps the most pleasant statistic has been the team-leading four goals to come off the foot of talented freshman forward Phil Doeh. This included his first career hat trick against Illinois-Chicago on Sept. 15.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been surprised,” Rohrman said. “Phil is as good an athlete as we have. He’s quick, he’s athletic and he’s got great feet. He’s very opportunistic. He scored three goals against Illinois-Chicago where he was in the right place at the right time and he did the right thing with it. Phil certainly is a guy who over the course of these four years is going to be a great attacking player for us.”
Doeh will certainly look to be opportunistic against an inexperienced Eastern
Illinois team tonight. The Badgers’ laurels, however, will largely rest on how well they can contain junior forward Jason Thompson, Eastern Illinois’ most talented player.
“I think Jason Thompson is a guy who’s recently been brought into the Olympic pool; he’s going to be a guy that we have to pay very special attention to,” Rohrman said.
“They’re probably going to play a 4-4-2 [formation]. We’re prepared to play that because we’ve seen it quite a bit this fall. I think it’s more going to be a matter of how we approach this game. We have to come out very aggressively with the attitude that we have something to prove.”
Rohrman stressed focusing directly on the Eastern Illinois game and not using it simply as a tune-up for the Big Ten opener against Ohio State next week. Lack of focus was a prime factor in the team’s losses to UW-GB and Valparaiso.
Tonight, finally, the bleachers at the McClimon Soccer Complex will have a little warmth, and the team won’t have to worry about packing any suitcases.
