Against the No. 13 Hoosiers, the Badgers defense proved to be resilient. Senior goalkeeper Alex Horwath had six saves in the game, but a breakaway goal by Indiana’s Will Bruin proved to make the difference. According to Horwath, coming away from the match empty-handed does not reflect the effort put forth by Wisconsin.
“It’s very disappointing,” Horwath said. “They had some good chances but for the most part we didn’t give them many simple looks. It’s a game that we thought we deserved at least a draw out of, so it’s very disappointing.”
Although the loss was indeed tough to swallow, first year head coach Todd Yeagley, a former national player of the year at Indiana who also served as an assistant in Bloomington for six years, took some positives out of the match.
“We realized that we can play with the top teams in the country,” Yeagley said. “I felt that in different moments and spurts we had the better of it. Overall, we made it pretty difficult for them and that was our objective.”
The Badgers will not have much time to digest the loss, however, as they travel to Chicago to face a UIC team that has reached the Sweet 16 in each of the past three seasons. Wisconsin has not lost to the Flames since 2001, but Yeagley knows better than to write off UIC despite its 1-2-4 record.
“UIC has some very technical players,” Yeagley said. “If we allow them to get into a rhythm and get comfortable they can cause problems for us. UIC is certainly a good team, much better than their record.”
To get back in the win column for the first time since Sept. 18, Wisconsin will have to create more scoring opportunities. After planting just two of their eight shots on goal against Indiana, the team is focused on using its stifling defense to create offensive attacks.
“We just need to do a better job of defending as a team, and then when we win the ball we need to do a better job of keeping it and moving forward as a team,” senior midfielder Brandon Miller said. “You’ve got to give Indiana credit; they’ve got a good defense, a very good goalkeeper and a very solid back line. But when we win the ball, we need to do a better job of transitioning into some offense.”
According to Yeagley, however, the game’s statistics — particularly the Badgers’ shots on goal numbers — do not tell the whole story.
“Stats are always something you look at, but when you break the tape down and really look at quality possessions, a lot of those crosses that weren’t considered shots, or final touches or a blocked shot, I was actually fairly pleased with our penetration and ability to get into the final third,” Yeagley said. “In reality, we created enough dangerous looks that I’m not concerned. But obviously we want to put more shots on goal if we can. But I think that stat was a bit misleading.”
Miller, who leads the team with four points, is the Badgers’ only player with multiple goals on the season. Though Wisconsin has had a slow offensive start to the season, UIC is in the same boat. The Flames have scored just seven goals in as many games this season, and only Charlie Trout has found the back of the net on multiple occasions.
Wisconsin still believes if the team takes care of its own business, a positive result will follow.
“The biggest thing is that we need to focus on things we can do ourselves, from our standpoint,” Miller said.
Horwath echoed his teammates sentiments.
“I think we need to focus on ourselves, we can’t worry about them,” Horwath said. “If we play our game, if we play hard, play with emotion and outwork them, we’ll get a good result.”
