Senior defender Watson Vaughan Prather has been an intricate part of the UW men’s soccer team from the beginning of his collegiate career. He has put in the hard work needed to evolve the freshman into a senior captain.
It is not uncommon for first year players to red shirt or to see limited playing time. Although Prather only started five times his first year, he saw playing time in 15 matches overall. His success on the soccer field, however, was rooted long before college.
The Potomac, Md. native was a four-year varsity-letter winner at Winston Churchill High School, and was part of the state championship team his senior season. He propelled them into the championship game that year by scoring the winning goal in the state semi-final game. After his high school career with both Winston Churchill and club teams was done, it came time for the next step: college.
“I was recruited out of high school and from my club teams and from tournaments,” Prather said. Other schools that he looked at included Vermont, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Commonwealth, Loyola and Baltimore.
In the end, Prather decided on UW.
“Just everything about Wisconsin attracted me. The fact that the soccer team wanted to recruit me, and then there was the added bonus of going to a really good school. I had such a good time on my recruiting trip, socially and academically.”
Prather’s only goal of his freshman year turned out to be the game winner in their matchup with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He also had two assists that season.
His sophomore year saw him make spot starts as one of the Badgers’ midfielders. Watson’s third year saw yet another increase in playing time and offensive productivity. While playing in all of Wisconsin’s 19 games, he started 11 of them. He also scored the game-winning goal in UW’s 2-1 victory over Oregon State at the Nike Gonzaga Soccer Invite.
In each of his first three seasons with the Badgers, UW finished 3-3-0 in the Big Ten. As the Badgers look to change that this year, they needed to fill in a hole in the defense after the end of the 2002 season. Prather, a true team player, made a position change to help fill that void.
“Last year I played center midfielder. This year I switched back to defense to add a presence and more guidance so we would have someone with experience back there, because most of our backfield are freshmen.”
The defense should be in good shape as Prather joins sophomore defender Alec Neal. Neal started and played in 18 games last year, and led all freshmen in total minutes played. The Badger defense has been tough this year, holding four of their five opponents to only one goal.
Watson had no problems with switching from midfielder, a position he enjoyed, to defender.
“Whatever helps the team out,” Prather said. “I miss the midfield and I like being involved and around the ball all the time, but whatever helps the team, I’m down with.”
While every game has the potential to be exciting and competitive, it is the games against Big Ten opponents that have Watson most excited.
“All the Big Ten games I’m really looking forward to, especially the ones we have at home — Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State,” said Prather. “The Big Ten games are always the most important games that we always look forward to.”
When asked if there was any on-field memory that stood out from his time so far, he could not pinpoint any one thing in particular.
“Just everything, I’ve just embraced everything — the entire career,” said Prather. “Everything has gone really well for me. Coming here, I ended up playing three-quarters of my freshman year, and it’s been altogether a great experience.”
Watson looks anxiously to see what opportunities arise after his career at Wisconsin comes to a close.
“I’m a legal studies major, and law school is an option I’m looking forward to looking into. Soccer-wise, if any windows of opportunity present themselves, I’d be glad to take them.”
