With the regular season over, men’s soccer head coach Jeff Rohrman addressed the media Monday about the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, which Wisconsin is hosting.
“I think the fans in Madison are going to be thoroughly entertained,” Rohrman said. “There’s certainly a high caliber of play within our conference.”
UW finished the season 9-7-2 on the year and will face Michigan (12-4-2) in the opening round. The Badgers had to settle for a tie with the Wolverines during the regular season, when Michigan’s Michael Holody scored on a penalty kick in the 90th minute.
“It was one of those games where for 85 minutes, I thought we did enough to win the game, and then for five minutes we did enough to tie or lose it,” Rohrman said.
One of the issues Rohrman addressed was the up-and-down nature of the Badgers’ season. Though the team finished 1-4-1 in conference play, UW swept its in-state rivals and was 8-3-1 against nonconference foes. UW also had unbeaten streaks of five and three games, as well as a five-game winless streak.
“I think we’ve been the victim of maybe some tough calls, some bad bounces, some tough plays,” Rohrman said. “I feel like I’ve aged 20 years in the last three months. Welcome to the world of coaching.”
Bad luck was one of the themes of the season; UW was on the wrong side of penalty kicks at the worst of times, losing to Michigan State on a late penalty kick in addition to the last-minute tie with Michigan. Six of the Badgers’ seven losses were by one goal, something that Rohrman says is as encouraging as it is heartbreaking.
“You look at the results in our conference, from top to bottom, it is very, very rare that you see a game decided by more than one goal,” Rohrman said. “The parity in our conference … is unbelievable. I don’t think there’s one team that anybody truly fears. I think every team is fully capable of making a good run.”
Another bright spot for the Badgers was the emergence of converted forward Scott Lorenz as a premier scoring threat. Lorenz finished the season with 10 goals and three assists, tied for second in the conference in scoring. The timeliness of his scoring was also impeccable as half of his goals either tied or won a game. According to his coach, Lorenz certainly deserves consideration for selection to the All-Big Ten team.
“I would like to think that’s a slam dunk,” Rohrman said. “I would imagine that he’s going to be … a first team or second team all-conference selection.”
Lorenz will have to continue his success on Thursday against Michigan if UW is going to make a case for an NCAA tournament bid. In the Badgers’ favor is the fact that Madison is hosting the Big Ten Tournament. Rohrman believes that his players being able to keep their normal routine will provide an added home field advantage.
“Certainly being at home, sleeping in your own bed, eating at home and all that good stuff,” Rohrman said, “certainly we hope helps us. We feel good about that fact, and hopefully it helps us win the game Thursday.”
Hopefully the safety of routine will benefit the Badgers, as their recent history against the Wolverines is discouraging. They are 0-2 against Michigan in Big Ten Tournament play, and Rohrman is 1-5-2 all time against them. The disappointing result of their last matchup aside, the Badgers are highly motivated to make some noise in the tournament.
“We’re looking forward to Michigan. Obviously it’s going to be a big game for us; we’ve put together a pretty good season so far,” Rohrman said. “We think we can position ourselves for a postseason bid, if we do well against Michigan and get ourselves in the semis and perform [strongly] there as well.”