Ask senior soccer captain Valentin Anozie about the new starting goalie, and he’ll chillingly say with a fierce stare, “He means business.”

It may be a cliché, but for Eric Hanson and the Wisconsin men’s soccer team, the adage couldn’t be more appropriate.

With only the fifth new coaching staff in the organization’s history and a new starting goalie, Wisconsin has gone 4-0 so far this season and has allowed only a single goal on its way to earning a No. 22 national ranking.

“It’s a mark we wouldn’t like to see there,” UW’s starting goalie, Hanson, said of the one goal the Badgers allowed. “We’re glad we got the win, but [the defense] talked, and we were a little upset that we gave up that goal.”

The lone goal was scored off a penalty kick late into the championship game against Oregon State in the Gonzaga Nike Soccer Classic last weekend. Up until then, no team had scored on Hanson, earning him Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors, and the team its first national ranking since 1997.

“It’s a number,” said the redshirt sophomore keeper. “And the number won’t win us games. We need to do it on the field.”

New Badger boss Jeff Rohrman couldn’t be happier with Hanson’s cool balance of talent and will to try harder.

“Eric has earned the respect of everyone that’s here with how he’s performed and played. He’s capable of making big saves, and that has allowed us to win games,” Rohrman said. “But at the same time, he knows he has to improve in other areas. He’s a very smart kid, and he’s bright enough to figure out when he has done well and when he hasn’t done well. He’s a kid who just wants to get better and better and better — which is nice.”

Hanson sat out last season, watching his team go 10-8-1, and patiently, if not a with some agitation, waited for his turn in net, a position shared by Moriba Atiba Baker and Phil Ayoub.

“Obviously it was frustrating because I wasn’t playing,” Hanson said of his time on the bench. “But I knew coming in that I wasn’t going to be ready and that my sophomore year was probably the first time I was going to spend any time playing. So I took it as a learning experience and learned as much from the guys as I could.”

The lessons Hanson learned on the bench paid off last spring when Wisconsin took on the professional A-League soccer teams the Milwaukee Rampage and the Minnesota Thunder. Hanson stood his ground against the Rampage, holding them scoreless in the first half. Yet, it was in the match against the Thunder when Hanson believes he really came into his own.

“I played 80 minutes [that game,] and that was when I felt comfortable and that I felt like I actually belonged playing out there.”

Hanson is limiting the Badgers opponents to a .25 goals-scored average, a number reflective of the skillful play that he attributes to his success last spring and the players that have come before him.

“I learned a lot from Moriba and Phil, so I think they are very important to how I am playing right now,” said Hanson. “I want to continue as best I can in the fine footsteps that have been laid before me.”

The Madison LaFollette alum has had his eye on these footsteps for some time.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I came to Badger soccer games, and I knew I wanted to be a Badger,” Hanson said. “I remember, I went to almost every game the year that the team won the national championship (1995), and ever since then I knew I wanted to play here.”

Now with the graduation of Baker and Ayoub forgoing his senior year, it is up to Hanson to protect the UW net and help his team achieve its season goals.

“No one playing here has made the [NCAA] tournament, so we want to do that,” Hanson said. “Our coach has played in some big games and coached a national championship game, and he made a big point this spring that [the NCAA tournament is] like nothing we’ve ever played before.”

Rohrman is confident in his team’s ability to achieve a postseason bid, but like a grizzled vet of big games, he isn’t quite so wide-eyed.

“Is it possible for us to get to the tournament? Absolutely,” said Rohrman. “If we do get into the tournament, we’re going to reset some goals. We just can’t be satisfied with getting in.”

Hanson goes about his job of protecting the net in a workman-like fashion with an eye for details of the entire team, not just for his own position. Starting with defense, he knows every position must work together to create the positive work environment that should help ensure more Badger victories in the games to come.

“Everyone contributes effort, and not one guy is the star,” Hanson said. “The guys just love coming to play every day. We work hard when we have to, and we have fun when we want to. We’re a lot closer, and there’s better chemistry this year.”

Baker and Ayoub shared goal-tending duties last season due to season-long injuries. In this new business of winning, Hanson’s co-workers and boss are thriving with Hanson minding the net full-time.

“Hanson’s a vocal keeper, so it helps the defense, as well as midfielders and forwards,” says Wisconsin forward Nick Van Sicklen. “He brings a whole new level of intensity and competitiveness.”

UW’s head coach echoed Van Sicklen’s sentiments.

“He’s a tremendous young man, and we are blessed to have him in this program. He’s top-notch in terms of the type of person he is and the type of player he is. As a coaching staff, we couldn’t ask for much more.”

But Hanson could.

“We’d like to see bigger crowds,” Hanson said. “We play an attractive style. Sometimes you go to a game, and all they do is kick the ball, but we try to work it in and around and try to be an exciting team.”

With a team whose talent and skills go as deep as the goal line, players are hoping the mere six home games grow to be the hottest ticket in town.
“You look at the fact that four guys scored this weekend, four different guys scored last weekend,” Hanson says. “If we keep getting output from every player, we’ll be fine.”
Now that’s just good sense.