The Wisconsin men’s soccer team will continue its challenging non-conference schedule this weekend when it travels to Milwaukee for the UW-Milwaukee Panther Tournament.
The Badgers begin play Saturday at noon when they take on the University of Pennsylvania Quakers.
Penn, who began the season with a 3-1 loss at Villanova, hails from the Ivy League. The Quakers’ program is in its 100th year and is looking to return to form in 2004. After winning the Ivy title two seasons ago, the Quakers struggled last year, posting a 6-9-2 record.
“The Ivy, it’s an interesting league,” Wisconsin coach Jeff Rohrman said. “It’s usually the same four or five that are bidding for it, but every game there is a war within that conference. There’s so much at stake almost to the point that non-conference stuff is trivial compared to winning that Ivy crown. But, Penn, they’ve done a good job over the past two, three years … two years ago with the Ivy title, that was good for them.”
The Quakers have a void to fill at goalkeeper after the graduation of Matthew Haefner. Seniors David Maier and Stephen Kroculick will lead the Penn attack. Both totaled 11 goals a season ago and will likely be asked to carry the bulk of the scoring load for a team that struggled offensively in 2003.
All-Ivy defender Eric Hallenbeck will anchor the Quaker backline with help from junior Erik Violante, who scored the lone Penn goal against Villanova.
One of Penn’s biggest question marks is at goalkeeper. Sophomore Daniel Cepero struggled in Penn’s opener.
“I think Penn is going to be solid all-around,” Rohrman said. “I know a couple of their guys just because I spent some time out on the east coast, so I know a couple of the individuals. They’re going to be a solid team. And as I told our players, I would anticipate them being a top two, three, four team in the Ivy. So, they’re going to be extremely fit, they’re going to work hard all over the field, and they’re going to cause us fits, and we’ve got to be able to match that and be able to deal with that on Saturday.”
Wisconsin will face its toughest test of the young season Sunday against No. 20 Tulsa. The Golden Hurricanes bring a 1-0-1 record to Milwaukee, posting a 13-6-1 mark in 2003. In addition to its impressive record, Tom McIntosh’s squad advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament and was ranked in the NSCAA polls for 11 weeks.
Seven starters return from that squad, including forward Ryan Pore, the nation’s second leading scorer last year and the Missouri Valley Conference’s Most Valuable Player.
“Tulsa … they do have a lot of firepower,” Rohrman said. “They’ve got some great offensive personalities and some people who can cause some damage in the attacking half. So, we’re going to have to be on our best defensively for sure on Sunday.”
Newcomer Daniel Wasson will also be a major factor for the Golden Hurricanes. Wasson, a transfer from Air Force, totaled 36 goals in 2003 — fourth in the nation. With players like Pore and Wasson, Tulsa has the scoring ability to put plenty of stress on the Badger backline.
“Well, they’re going to get their fair share of looks,” Rohrman said. “They’re just that good of a team and that good of players. So, we just have to pay attention to them and be sure we’re sharp in terms of our individual defending, not over commit, not ball watch and be sure we’re tackling at the right time and all of that stuff. Eric Hanson’s going to have to come up big for us on Sunday, I’m sure. Tulsa’s just, they’re that good of a team. We’re going to need our goalkeeper to come up, maybe once or twice, and keep us in it. And he’s certainly capable of doing that.”
One key for Wisconsin is the health of sophomore defender Aaron Hohlbein, who injured his leg last Sunday in the Badgers’ 4-1 win over Dayton.
“Well, he’s gotten better the last two days,” Rohrman said. “I guess I’m cautiously optimistic that he’ll be able to go this weekend. But, if he can’t go, then we’ll just prepare for that and we’ll be fine. A lot of guys have stepped up and had good weekends this past Friday and Sunday. Of course he’ll be missed if he can’t go, but I’m not ruling it out yet.”
For Rohrman’s young team, this weekend is just another test.
“I think if you look at our schedule, we’ve really tried to improve it,” Rohrman said. “All of these teams in September have started off very well. I think the thing that we’ve appealed to a lot of the young guys through the recruiting process is we’re going to go out and try to play the best teams we can get to challenge ourselves and test ourselves against them. This weekend is really no different than what we saw last weekend and for sure the following weekend with Drake and Creighton, it doesn’t get any easier there. Good players want to play good teams and I think this weekend is another opportunity for us to take a look and see how we’re doing against two quality teams.”
