The Big Ten soccer season kicks off Sunday when the Buckeyes of Ohio State (1-6-1) come to the McClimon Sports Complex to take on the UW Badgers (5-5-0). OSU came away with a 1-0 2OT victory in last year’s match.
UW is fresh off a 2-0 win over University Illinois-Chicago \ Wednesday night. The Badgers gained the victory with freshman Jake Settle in goal.
“I don’t think it’s as complete a game we can put together. We had too many technical breakdowns for a team of this caliber,” said UW head coach Jeff Rohrman. “While it was a good game, I wouldn’t say it was a great game. We found a way to win it and finished a couple good chances.”
The Badgers will look to put together a complete game against their Big Ten opponents from Ohio State. While it seems unlikely that the Buckeyes will match last year’s 11-7-1 record, managing to score only three goals so far this season, they will come out looking to gain a victory.
“Ohio State’s going to be very hungry; they’ve slumped a little bit through September. They’ve had some games they thought they should have done a little bit better in,” said Rohrman.
If Ohio State had a stronger offensive presence, it would appear the team could have won more matches. It has been shut out in six of eight matches thus far. The Buckeye defense has been tough, though. The defense has only allowed seven goals, and no more than one goal in all but one game. The most notable defensive display was holding No. 2 UCLA to only one goal in the season-opening tournament.
“They’re a solid team,” said Rohrman. “They’re missing … their top returning scorer from last year. He’s out with an injury. So they’re struggling to find ways to score, but they’ve also been very stingy defensively, too. If you look at their stats, they’re a tough team to score on.”
The missing scorer for the Buckeyes is senior forward Justin Cook. Last year he ranked second on the team in goals scored (5), assists (4), points (14), game-winning goals (3), shots (34) and shots on goal (14). Cook started all 17 games in which he participated. He has done very well for the Buckeyes during his career, being named second-team All-Big Ten for three consecutive years and second-team All-Ohio in 2002. Also, he notoriously led the team with seven yellow-card cautions last year.
“It’s a shame that Justin will miss this season, but we’re hopeful he’ll get another year of eligibility,” said Ohio State head coach John Bluem. “He’s one of the top goal scorers in the conference and comes in each year in shape and ready to go.”
Senior captain and goalkeeper Eric Hanson will retake the keeper spot for Sunday’s matchup against the Buckeyes if he’s ready to go.
“Hanson is still nursing a little bit of an injury,” Rohrman said. “He’s still going to be questionable. He might play Sunday; he may not. We’ll see how his rehab goes the next couple days. If he’s healthy, he’ll go. He’s been our starter.”
The Badgers look to redeem their double-overtime loss last year to the Buckeyes. Cook assisted on OSU’s Jason Ryan’s game-winning goal in the 98th minute. Wisconsin was out-shot 11-6 in the loss and was held to only two shots in the second half. UW will be looking to take advantage of every opportunity it gets this time around.
“We’ll just have to continue to work and execute in the final third and create those two, three good chances and put them on goal,” said Rohrman.
Senior midfielder and captain Erol Goknur is looking forward to the Big Ten opener.
“Every Big Ten game is pretty intense, so we just need to be prepared for a hard-fought game and come out ready … come out with intensity; match their intensity; exceed their intensity,” said Goknur. “We should be able to beat them. We just need to play our game. I think we’ll be all right.”
It should be a great match, as Ohio State’s tough defense is pitted against UW’s offensive attack, which has netted 18 goals so far this season.
