After a long winter, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team has a chance to return to the pitch for a handful of spring exhibition games every season. With two indoor events and their first outdoor competition already in the books, the Badgers look forward to a trip to Milwaukee to square off with in-state rival Marquette this weekend.

The game will be a rematch of last fall’s 2-1 Badger win. Freshman Matt Jelacic scored the first goal of his career on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Also scoring for the Badgers in that game was sophomore Phil Doeh.

Wisconsin looks to build on a successful foundation that was laid last fall as the team finished the season 11-10-1 and also won their first Big Ten tournament game since 1998. Behind a bumper crop of freshmen, the Badgers should continue to improve and the spring exhibition season should play a big role in that. Facing off against Marquette this weekend will give Wisconsin a chance to work on their skills in actual game situations that are hard to replicate during practice. The added exposure for the freshmen will go a long way in developing the players’ skills for next season.

“We certainly are going to be challenged with the competition, which is great for us,” Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman said. “I’m sure we’ll have some moments where we can learn some things as we go through the day.”

With all but three members of last year’s squad returning to action, the Badgers will have plenty of players building on strong seasons.

In goal, Wisconsin has second-team All-Big Ten performer Eric Hanson. Already named one of next year’s co-captains, Hanson should be expected to start nearly all of the games. With Hanson penciled in for most of the action next season, it would be no surprise if freshmen Jake Settle and Mike Hood saw extra playing time in the spring to get a little experience.

Defensively, Wisconsin has one of the best young players in the Big Ten in Aaron Hohlbein. Hohlbein, who was named second-team All-Big Ten, has also trained with the U.S. U-20 national team.

Alongside Hohlbein in the defense was fellow freshman Andrew Cardona. The pair started nearly every game for the Badgers last season. The rest of the backline is not nearly as set and the spring exhibition season will give Wisconsin plenty of opportunities to try out different combinations.

Wisconsin’s most experienced group is in the midfield, where juniors Noah Goerlitz, David Martinez and Nick Van Sicklen will all be returning. With freshman Aaron Witchger also seeing a lot of playing time last season, the group will spend most of the spring gelling rather than battling for minutes.

With the physical demands placed on the midfielders, the Badgers will need some of the younger players to take advantage of the exhibition time to build depth in the midfield.

At forward, Wisconsin returns their leading scorer Jed Holhbein, who netted nine goals last season. Sophomore Phil Doeh and Van Sicklen will also see a lot of time at forward. For this group, spring games are all about building confidence and learning the little things that help score goals. Having the ability to capitalize on as many scoring opportunities as possible will go a long way toward pushing this team from a .500 club to a national contender.

After Wisconsin’s trip to Milwaukee, they finish their exhibition season with games against the Milwaukee Wave of the A-League and then wrap up their short spring season with an alumni game. Wins and losses in these final three games mean very little to the Badgers. What is important is how much the team can improve and prepare themselves for next fall’s regular season.

“We hope to see improvement in all areas and to see a high level of consistency,” Rohrman said.