[media-credit name=’GREG DIXON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

Coming off a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Michigan State decided by a penalty kick with six minutes left, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team (4-4-2) looks to end its five-game winless streak against instate rival UW-Milwaukee (3-4-4), which is looking to end its own four-game winless streak.

Though the Panthers lead the all time series 13-11-6, the Badgers own a 7-4-1 record at home against them. Head coach Jeff Rohrman, a graduate of UW-Milwaukee, could care less that the opponent is his alma mater.

“I just want to get back on track,” Rohrman said, “and get [my] guys rewarded for their hard work.”

“Hard work” has been competing with offensive futility as the theme for the Badgers over the last couple of weeks. Though they have only given up seven goals in their past five games, they have only scored three times during that stretch.

“There’s always some frustration when you don’t score some goals and a couple things don’t go your way,” junior forward Scott Lorenz said. “We’re trying to forget the past and take the next step forward.”

Forgetting the past altogether may not be completely advisable, as UW’s play has not been terrible over the past few games, aside from its inability to score. The Badgers have outshot their opponents 58-36 in their last three games, though they have only one goal to show for it.

“Looking over the past week and a half, we’ve created some pretty good chances; we just have to put them away,” Rohrman said. “[We need to] be a little more composed, confident and calm around the goal.”

Rohrman believes the Badgers’ current string of bad luck — which has included two potential goals going off the crossbar in the Western Illinois game and questionable calls that led to the deciding penalty kicks against Michigan and Michigan State — will change for the better and will get the team back on track

“It’s a break here and there. …They haven’t come our way, and if we just keep working hard and plugging away, eventually they’re going to even out,” Rohrman said. “There’s a lot of parity, and it comes down to a couple of bounces, a couple of plays, a couple of breaks. We just have to keep working hard.”

The only real change to the game plan may be the shifting of forward/midfielder Brandon Miller to a more offensive forward role. Rohrman hopes that in changing Miller’s position, it will give the Badgers more opportunities to score.

“[Miller]’s a different type of player than Pablo (Delgado) or a (Bryan) Gerster. … He’s a bit of a slasher, he’s quick, he’s dynamic,” Rohrman said. “I think he’s going to have some success.”

For Lorenz, the strategy is much simpler: win at all costs.

“Go out there and battle for the win. Really, get it done any way we can,” Lorenz said.