Tonight the Wisconsin men’s soccer team (3-6-0) welcomes UW-Milwaukee (3-2-2) to Madison for the latest edition of the “War of I-94.”

“Whenever you say UW-M and Wisconsin, people know what it’s about,” Badgers’ head coach Jeff Rohrman said. “It’s an absolute battle. I know, at least my impressions in the last couple of years, the rivalry has been re-established. I think that’s been pretty clear, with the emotion and everything, and certainly with us being able to get some more Milwaukee guys and Wisconsin guys and the familiarity with each other, that only adds to it.”

Under Rohrman, the Badgers are 1-1 in the annual game, losing at home in overtime by a score of 1-0 two years ago and defeating the Panthers 1-0 in Milwaukee a year ago.

Wisconsin enters tonight’s match as losers of three straight, dropping each by just one goal. Despite the recent skid, a match against in-state rival Milwaukee has Wisconsin refreshed and excited.

“Going in, I don’t think we would have figured that we’d be where we are now,” Rohrman said. “I have to give the guys credit that, yes it’s disappointing and possibly frustration can set in, but the guys have continued to stay true to what we’re trying to do, and they’ve continued to believe in each other … I’ve been really pleased with the way the guys have handled that and I know they’re looking forward to the game on Wednesday.”

UW-Milwaukee brings a talented and experienced squad into Madison, with several seniors leading the way.

“They’re going to be a tenacious, hard-working group of guys,” Rohrman said. “It’s not always the prettiest game, because there’s so much intensity and so much emotion, sometimes the soccer gets lost a little bit. It can be a little bit of a helter-skelter type of game. I would anticipate in terms of formation, more than likely it will be a 4-3-3. That’s kind of been their ammunition the last couple of years, and I wouldn’t expect them to deter from that.”

Swedish forward Antou Jallow heads the Panther offensive attack, with seven points (three goals and one assist) on the season. Jallow holds Milwaukee school records for goals and points in a single season, and is eight tallies behind former Panther star and current U.S. national team member Tony Sanneh for the career goals record.

“[Jallow]’s a handful,” Rohrman said. “He’s as dangerous as they come in the box. He’s courageous, he gets whether it’s his head or his foot, whatever it takes to get on the end of things. He’s good at posting up guys, he’s good on spinning players. He’s a lot of what you look for in a target type of forward, and we’re going to have our hands full with him.”

Despite possessing a talented forward like Jallow, the Panthers have struggled to score goals in 2004, with just 10 goals in seven games. Milwaukee has won with a defense that has surrendered more than one goal only once on the season. Seniors Khaled El-Ahmad, Ian Hoelker and Trent Furtsch lead the stingy group, and a midseason goaltending change from senior Kirk Thode to Eric Mickschl has further strengthened the Panther defense.

“Last year was Steve Bode (out for the year with a torn ACL) in the center, and Ian’s done a good job,” Rohrman said. “He’s stepped in with El-Ahmad, and they’ve become a pretty good duo back there. You couple that with a strong left side player like Trent Furtsch, and it’s a very solid back line they have. They’ve been rotating a few guys along the right, but it’s going to be a very good backline.”

For Wisconsin to have success over a familiar opponent like Milwaukee and break their losing streak, the Badgers will have to capitalize on their chances, something that has been a recurring problem in 2004 and could continue to plague UW with senior forward Jed Hohlbein out due to an ankle injury.

“There’s no secrets going in,” Rohrman said. “They’re going to know us real well, and certainly we know them quite well also. So, it’s going to come down to grinding it out, to making the most of your chances, and hopefully we get a bounce or two. Every now and then you need one of those to go your way, and we certainly deserve one, as hard as we’ve worked.”