Fresh off of its exciting 3-2 overtime victory against Michigan State last Sunday, the Wisconsin men's soccer team (6-10-0, 1-4-0 Big Ten) is looking to carry its momentum further as it faces in-state rival University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (8-8-0, 3-4-0 Horizon) in its final home match of the season at the McClimon Soccer Complex tonight at 7 p.m.
Although Wisconsin has won 11 of the past 14 matches with UW-GB, the all-time results between the two teams are knotted up at 14 wins a piece with zero draws. And while the Badgers defeated the Phoenix last year 4-1 in Green Bay, UW-GB was victorious in the last clash in Madison, winning 1-0 in 2003.
UW-GB arrives tonight coming off of a tough 1-0 overtime loss suffered to IUPUI last Sunday. Four out of UW-GB's past five matches have had to be settled in overtime, with the Phoenix losing 2-1 to both Loyola and UIC in extra time.
The Badgers will need to shut down the dynamic striker tandem of freshman Tosaint Ricketts and junior Joshua Okoampa as the Phoenix are 5-0 when notching three goals or more this season. While Ricketts has already scored four goals thus far in his debut season, Okoampa leads the team with eight tallies.
Defensively, the Phoenix is led by freshman goalkeeper Adam Stikl. In his first collegiate start, the young keeper snatched one save and earned a shutout in UW-GB's 1-0 overtime victory over UW-Milwaukee last Wednesday in the coveted Chancellor's Cup. In two starts with four appearances, the shot-stopper from West Allis, Wis., has recorded 10 saves and allowed only one goal.
After losing to UW-Milwaukee 2-0 earlier in the season, and then observing UW-GB's impressive victory in the Chancellor's Cup, Rohrman and his crew do not plan on taking the Phoenix lightly tonight.
"Certainly against Green Bay we've got to come out and play a great game," Rohrman said. "For them to beat Milwaukee last week was a great win for their program, and it certainly opened our eyes in that we should take them very, very seriously Wednesday."
This season, Wisconsin has pieced together a 4-3 record at McClimon while UW-GB has only assembled a 3-6 record on the road — with victories against Air Force, Wright State and IPFW away from home.
Despite his respectable home record, Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman is less than thrilled with the overall record his team has manufactured this season. However, the fourth-year coach has been pleased with how his squad has remained close in all matches.
"There's some disappointment with the record that we have right now," Rohrman said. "But at the same time, we know that we weren't far off in a number of those games, and we let a couple perhaps get away."
Tonight the Badger squad is determined to not allow the Phoenix a victory, as the match plays a crucial role in Wisconsin's quest for Big Ten hardware, with only one match — against Northwestern — remaining in the season before the Big Ten tournament occurs Nov. 10.
"We're just looking to play as good as we can," junior captain Aaron Hohlbein said. "[We're] looking to take some momentum as we head into the tournament, and hopefully do some things there."
According to Rohrman, tonight's matchup with the Phoenix should be no different for his squad than any other match they've lined up for.
"I think the guys are just taking every game for what it's worth and trying to put their best effort out there to get a win," Rohrman said. "They've got to feel good about the way we've competed throughout the course of the season — it doesn't matter who we come up against, we're just going to go out and do what we can to get a result."
