After dropping its seventh straight match, a 5-2 second-half scoring barrage to the two-time defending national champion No. 8 Indiana last Friday night, the struggling Wisconsin men's soccer team (4-9-0, 0-3-0 Big Ten) is looking to finally get back on the winning track as they take on Marquette University (5-6-1, 1-5-1 Big East) at 7 p.m. tonight at the McClimon Soccer Complex.

The Badgers hold a 13-9-6 all-time record against the Golden Eagles, including a 2-1 win at McClimon in 2003, and a thrilling 5-3 victory last year in Milwaukee. In last year's match, Marquette opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, but then allowed five straight Wisconsin goals — three by graduated forward Jed Hohlbein — before scoring the last two of the match.

This year, however, the Badgers are without the scoring prowess of Hohlbein, and have instead had to rely on younger players to provide the offensive thrust. As a result, head coach Jeff Rohrman's club has scored only 13 goals this season, and only three in the past six matches.

Although Wisconsin broke its two-game drought by scoring two against Indiana Friday, Rohrman was displeased with the way his team played defensively against the Hoosiers. However, he believes if the team can get a few goals against an offensively challenged club like Marquette, it can come away from the match favorably.

"We did do some things well going forward [against Indiana], but I was also a little bit concerned with the goals that we gave up," Rohrman said. "Against Marquette, we just have to be a little smarter in how we play defensively and where we give the ball up. If we do the same things we did offensively last Friday, then we should be OK."

Wisconsin freshman midfielder Kenny Dix believes the team's goals against Indiana last Friday have given the team the momentum it needs to start scoring more goals and chalking up some more victories.

"I think now that we've found the net a couple of times, we've got a little bit more confidence — we'll definitely start to score more and win some games," Dix said.

While the Badgers are in the midst of a seven-match losing streak, the Golden Eagles arrive in Madison coming off of a 1-0 victory over UW-Green Bay last Wednesday. The victory for Marquette snapped a three-game losing streak of its own in which it lost to conference opponents No. 13 Connecticut, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.

And while Marquette's offense has only tallied seven goals this season, its defense has kept the club competitive thus far. Head coach Steve Adlard's club has allowed only 14 goals this season — six of which came in its loss to No. 13 Connecticut.

"[Marquette] hasn't given away a whole lot of goals this year, with the exception of maybe Connecticut," Rohrman said. "It's going to take a great effort on our part to get more than one [goal] by their defense. From what I know about each team, I think it will be a low scoring game. It would be nice to get four or five [goals] in on them, but that would be a surprise to me if we do get that many."

As both Wisconsin and Marquette employ a more defensive style of play, the Badgers feel they will have an offensive edge in tonight's matchup. After losing to UW-Milwaukee earlier this year, the Wisconsin squad is also feeling the pressure of facing an in-state rival.

"It should be a good match," Dix said. "We know that [Marquette] is a really direct team, so they play into our style very well. It's also an in-state match, so we've definitely got to take it seriously and turn things around and start winning some games."

Since UW hasn't won in over a month — last defeating Butler 1-0 on Sept. 18 — a victory tonight over Marquette would finally end Wisconsin's loss streak and would prepare them for a pair of Big Ten matches on the horizon. Rohrman's club returns to the pitch Sunday, traveling to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a match with the Michigan Wolverines before returning home to face Michigan State next weekend.