[media-credit name=’GREGORY DIXON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]It was just about 4 p.m. when Wisconsin junior midfielder Victor Diaz got his first tally of the season, propelling the men's soccer team to victory in its first of two games this past weekend at the Cal Legacy Classic Tournament in Berkeley, Calif.

In Madrid, however, the clock was about to strike three … in the morning. Not exactly the best time for anybody to be awake, let alone checking the Internet for a soccer score from across the globe, but Diaz’s parents were following the game nonetheless.

"My parents are always checking up on me, making sure I am doing fine," the Spanish-born midfielder said.

"When they saw that I had gotten that goal against Stanford, they were pretty excited."

The Diaz family is sure to have plenty to be excited about this season, as the Badgers (3-1-0) have already made quite a splash in the college soccer world only a week into the new season. With their win over then No. 7 California-Berkeley Sunday, the team has found itself back in the nation's top 20 for the first time since October 1996, when they peaked in the polls at No. 7.

At that point, a 12-year-old Victor Diaz wasn't even thinking of Bucky Badger, Big Ten soccer or even America.

"I started playing soccer when I was seven, and two years later, I was getting recruited to play for Real Madrid's youth team," Diaz recalled. "I played there for about five years. That team really exposed me to the soccer world. Our practices were a lot like games because they were so competitive."

While in high school in Spain, Diaz played on some of the best youth teams in Europe, at one point even finishing first at the Nike European Championships.

"(Those teams) really prepared me well for playing soccer over here in America," Diaz said. "I learned how to use all my skills as a player to help my team score as well as create goals."

After turning down offers to play professionally in his home country, Diaz brought that skill set and competitive drive with him to Madison. After redshirting his freshman year, the 5-foot-8-inch playmaker went on to have one of the best first seasons of any player in UW soccer history, leading the team in goals (7) and points (16) on his way to earning All-Big Ten Freshman Team honors.

Diaz's sophomore year saw him again lead the team in goals (4) and points (12). Once again Diaz was honored by the conference as one of its best, this time earning second-team All-Big Ten honors despite starting in only 12 of the 16 games he played in.

Early in the 2007 season, Wisconsin appears to have one of the strongest and most experienced groups of midfielders in the country, let alone the Big Ten. Not including Diaz, four other starters from the 2006 team return this year: sophomore Pablo Delgado, junior Kenny Dix, and seniors B.J. Goodman and Erik Ortega.

Strong chemistry between the five of them has helped Diaz and Wisconsin immensely.

"Even though there are a lot of players in the midfield area, we all know what each other can bring to the team individually, something that has allowed us to play more to each other's strengths," Diaz said. "We all do what we have to do to win the game."

Diaz and the rest of the midfielders have been doing just that to start the season, as seen in the first place finish at the Cal Legacy Tournament this past weekend. The 11-man roster for the All-Tournament team featured four UW players, more than any other school in the invitational. The Badgers, who excelled at the midfield and defensive parts of the field all weekend, had not only Diaz and Delgado, but also senior defender Nick Caronna and goalkeeper Alex Horwath on the list, with Diaz also garnering Most Valuable Player accolades.

"Diaz played as well as anybody in the tournament and was extremely dangerous coming up the right side and creating a number of good chances for us," head coach Jeff Rohrman said. "He did it all weekend, even though he only got the goal on Friday against Stanford."

With the junior playing as well as ever, it looks like there are going to be a lot more late nights huddled around the computer in the Diaz household.