After two defeats last weekend at the San Diego State Tournament, the men’s soccer team has a much closer destination this weekend, though their opponents are just as strong.
The team will be traveling to Milwaukee to compete in the Panther Invitational, where they are set Friday to face the Oakland Grizzlies, a team with a 2-2-1 record. The Grizzlies had a disappointing weekend with consecutive losses to No. 25 Northwestern and Northern Illinois.
“Oakland’s strong,” head coach Todd Yeagley said. “They’re a team that certainly has some young players, but they’ll be a very formal opponent and our team is looking forward to it.”
Sunday, the team will be put against the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos. The Gauchos, currently ranked No. 9, could be a tough opponent for the Badgers. With a record of 4-1-0, they have had a very strong start to their season, winning their first four games only to lose to Loyola Marymount at home last Monday.
Although competition within the Big Ten will begin next weekend with No. 8 Indiana, UC-Santa Barbara will be the third California team for the Badgers in just two weeks.
“If you look at it historically, it’s been difficult for teams from the Midwest and the East to go west and get positive results, so we’re keeping it in perspective,” Yeagley said.
Yeagley encourages his players to focus on what is ahead rather than dwell on past games.
“There’s nothing we can do now, but we have a heck of a lot of season ahead,” Yeagley said. “We focus on what we did well and learn from what we didn’t; this is the time to make a mistake, right at the beginning of the season.”
Senior Scott Lorenz shares his coach’s attitude. After three shots on goal last weekend, none resulting in a score, he is frustrated yet optimistic for upcoming games.
“Even the best strikers hit rough patches, so the best thing you can do is have a short memory and play through,” Lorenz said. “I’ll get my chances and I’m not worried about it. I’ll start to find the back of the net.”
This weekend’s game against Oakland will be the teams’ third meeting in five years. In 2007, Wisconsin lost to Oakland by a score of 3-2. However, in 2005, the Badgers beat the Grizzlies at the Panther Invitational with a score of 2-1.
“[Oakland] is all we’re looking at right now since the game is on Friday,” Yeagley said. “Once we get through Friday, we’ll reevaluate and get ready for a nationally ranked team in Santa Barbara. Each game has different matchup concerns, and this group knows that we take it a game at a time.”
Since becoming head coach before this year’s preseason, Yeagley has concentrated strongly on disciplining the team’s defense. Though six goals got past them last weekend, two were due to penalty kicks.
In the first two games of the season against Virginia Tech and Western Illinois, the Wisconsin defense was strong and shut out the opponents. Yeagley still remains optimistic about his defense.
“There were some mistakes that I think we will correct, but I look at the whole unit and after I evaluated the performance, I think it was overall pretty good,” Yeagley said. “I want to be a team that is very difficult to score upon. We got back to the drawing board and we got back to some individual principles [Wednesday], and I think that we’ll show we can do something with that.”
In last weekend’s game against San Diego State, senior goalkeeper Alex Howath was lifted from the game in the 37th minute due to a sliced finger. However, he returned midway through the second half and finished out the game.
This weekend marks the 36th annual Panther Invitational, making it the longest-running tournament in NCAA Division I men’s soccer.
“The team is still very confident, and all the goals that the team has set forth are still attainable,” Yeagley said. “We’re pushing forward, but obviously we’d love to come away with some wins this weekend.”
