For the second year in a row, the Wisconsin Badgers (2-3-0) out-played the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Fighting Phoenix (1-1-1), and once again UW lost 1-0. The Badgers dominated play from the opening whistle. Unable to capitalize on a number of scoring opportunities, Wisconsin was vulnerable to another disappointing loss. With three minutes left, Kyle Sillars, a junior forward for UW-Green Bay, scored the game’s only goal, giving the previously winless Phoenix their first victory of the season.
Wisconsin out-shot Green Bay 17-6 — 9-2 in the second half alone. Junior forward Nick Van Sicklen had three of Wisconsin’s shots.
“It’s frustrating to out-shoot a team almost three to one and come away with nothing. There’s no excuse. We completely dominated them; we’re a better team,” Van Sicklen said. “Our players are better than them; we just couldn’t finish it.”
“You think you’d learn once, but I guess not. It’s tough to lose two in a row to these guys, considering we should be the top program in the state.”
Wisconsin’s defense was a dominant force throughout the game. UW-Green Bay did not get a single corner kick, while Wisconsin had eight. The Phoenix only had three shots on goal; however, they only needed one to get through.
“The ball bounced in the final third, their guy came on it and hit it, I had no chance,” said Badger goalie Eric Hanson.
Freshman midfielder John Scripp had an outstanding first half and gave the Badgers a number of scoring chances. Twice in the first half he served up crosses from near the sideline that found freshman teammate Reid Johnson. Reid’s attempts, however, were unable to find the net.
Van Sicklen had an open shot after a nice combination of passing from Jed Hohlbein and Frank Iaizzo, but Van Sicklen’s blast sailed just high of the goal.
UW-Green Bay had very few scoring chances in the first half — and throughout the game, for that matter. With nearly nine minutes to go, Green Bay had a direct kick about 30 yards out but turned the ball over almost immediately on a penalty and the ball was crossed to the opposite side of the box. Wisconsin was able to capitalize on a last-minute corner kick, and the half ended with neither team having scored.
Second-half play started off rather slowly, and the first scoring opportunity did not occur until close to 10 minutes into the half. The Phoenix had a nice cross, but they did not have a player there to put a head on it. The Badgers countered as midfielder David Martinez took a shot off a Matthew Jelacic pass that made Phoenix goalie Pat Czuprynski jump in order to save the shot. Green Bay mustered up an opportunity minutes later as one Phoenix forward jumped in front of Hanson’s kick and deflected the ball. It was a startling moment, but Hanson regained the ball.
With three minutes to go, Aaron Hohlbein headed a corner from Erol Goknur just over the cross bar. No more than half a minute later, Green Bay took the lead.
Wisconsin played hard the last three minutes, and with 52 seconds left, senior co-captain Watson Vaughan Prather chipped to junior transfer forward Jed Hohlbein, but his shot sailed high.
Co-captain Eric Hanson addressed the team after the disappointing loss. “We just have to pick it up. Myself included, we just didn’t play very well. Myself all the way up to the forwards, we just have to pick it up.”
“We created enough chances to win the game, but if you don’t put your chances away, you leave the door open. [Green Bay] did well in taking the one chance I thought they actually had pretty much the whole game,” said head coach Jeff Rohrman. “That’s the just the way soccer is: you can dominate and still lose the game, but we have to find a way to win. There’s too much talent on this team to lose the two games that we did.”
