After a disappointing loss to Northwestern last week in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team got some good news Monday morning. For the first time in 18 years, the Badgers are headed to the NCAA tournament.
“[After] a long waiting period for the guys on the team as well as the staff, to get rewarded with our body of work and be in the NCAA Tournament after 18 years here at the University of Wisconsin, it’s more than exciting,” head coach John Trask said Monday at a press conference.
Wisconsin (13-4-2, 4-2 Big Ten) is hoping to restart momentum as they prepare to take on UW-Milwaukee (15-2-2, 5-2 Horizon League) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the McClimon Complex Thursday.
The matchup with the Panthers on Thursday was no coincidence, as the NCAA tournament matches teams together in the first round based on proximity to each other, leading to more rivalry games during the playoffs.
“You’ve got rivalry games all over the country that will be happening,” Trask said. “There will be upsets. There will be great performances. I’m sure some poor performances, but we’ll put together a great performance.”
Wisconsin faced UWM earlier this season with a final 1-1 tie in double overtime on the road. This time around, Trask knows the Badgers will have to do the little things right to try to ensure the victory.
“Tournament soccer is about a few plays here and there,” Trask said. “The soccer gods maybe weren’t smiling on us against Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament. Hopefully, we can turn the tide and get a result on Thursday and move on in the tournament. That’s what it’s about. It’s about advancing at this point.”
One aspect Trask hopes to take advantage of is the opportunity to play at home. The Badgers are 9-0-0 at home this season and currently hold the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 13 games.
After not advancing to the big dance since 1995, this season is also the first time since then that the Badgers have won at least 13 games in a season.
While the Badger players have not made the tournament in 18 years, Trask will be able to lend some expertise, having appeared in the tournament three times as head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Trask also holds a 3-0 record in the first round of play.
His main goal is to keep the team focused and not be complacent with just getting a tournament bid.
“I guess that’s my job as a head coach and the rest of the coaching staff, to make sure that the expectation was that we were going to be in it and we’d be hosting this game,” Trask said.
Even though they did not get a top seed, Trask thinks this team has the pieces to make a deep run in the tournament. He expects a great week of practices leading up to the game in the hopes of playing well in their most important game of the year so far.
“I think there’s more in this team,” Trask said. “I’ve said it consistently to them. I’ll say it publicly. I still don’t think we’ve seen the best soccer out of this group of players.”
That is a high standard for a team that has already received recognition for some of its top performers during the regular season. Redshirt senior midfielder Tomislav Zadro and junior defender AJ Cochran earned B1G offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively, the first time UW has taken home these honors.
Senior leadership has played a big role with the team having 13 seniors on the roster. With this many seniors, Trask knows this last game at home is special for them.
“It’s a bit mind-boggling to me. Four years ago we started this project and this process, this journey with these guys,” Trask said. “To see them today and the smiles on their faces and to know their season is going to continue, at least through Thursday, really is exciting.”
Trask sees this season as a culmination of four years of hard work, having taken over as head coach when these seniors were first arriving on campus. This last home game for them will be something special that he hopes will be a great memory for all of the players.
“We’ve got quite a few seniors,” Trask said. “They love the home field. Our field is in excellent shape. It’s going to be a really spectacular show for NCAA soccer here in Madison on Thursday night.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at McClimon Complex, with the winner advancing to face No. 3 seed Notre Dame.
