After opening Big Ten
conference play with a 1-1 double-overtime tie at the University of Indiana, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team faces two home games this week. UW, which hasn’t won since its season opener, finally found some success on the road over this last weekend. 

Wisconsin scored a
surprising tie against Big Ten powerhouse Indiana at the end of a stretch of
three road games. Over the course of that road trip, Wisconsin took an overtime loss to Creighton in Omaha, 1-0,
then lost their next game to Marquette in Milwaukee 1-0 in regulation
time before meeting Indiana.

“We went on the road to
Marquette and didn’t show up, in all honesty,” head coach John Trask said. “We kind of bottomed
out. Then we turned around and went to Indiana and came away with a positive
result. It was an interesting week and one that hopefully we can continue to
build on.” 

The Badgers’ first goal
since Sept. 12 at Florida Atlantic came from Chris
Prince. Prince, a freshman, scored his first collegiate goal against Indiana, off the
assists of Kyle McCrudden and Nick Janus.

“I think the guys, being
on TV, it really meant a lot to them,” Trask said. “They really showed up and played hard.”

Wisconsin’s only win this
year came early in September against UC-Santa Clara. Trask expressed hope that the tie against Indiana could
serve as a motivator for his young team. 
Wisconsin has 13 true freshmen and just five seniors.  

“It was a result that we
needed, in all honesty, with the season so far,” Trask said. “The guys need to
stay bought-in, and I think that this is something they’ll use [for]
motivation.”

Despite being optimistic
about the tie, Trask did feel that the Badgers could have accomplished more.

“I think the last time
Wisconsin went into Indiana and got a result was in 1992,” Trask said. “When
you look historically, to go in to play the tradition of excellence that is
Indiana soccer and come away [with a tie], we felt in some ways we were a bit
unfortunate. 

“Overtime, we thought we had some good looks at goal and outplayed
them deep into the game, which is very difficult to do against a high-ranked
team on the road.”

Shared Histories

This was the first time
Todd Yeagley, now head coach at Indiana, faced his former team. Yeagley was
Wisconsin’s head coach last season.

Trask also has ties to
Indiana, his alma mater, where he served as an assistant coach from
1993-1999. However, Trask dismissed any extra difficulty in facing Indiana.

“People asked me how
would it be for me, personally, to go back to Bloomington or Todd Yeagley
coaching against Wisconsin after leaving at the end of last season,” Trask
said. “In all honesty, I think it was tougher on (UW assistant coach) Phil Presser, who helped
Indiana win championships, to go back there for his first time.”

Presser served as an
assistant coach at Indiana from 2006-09. He also played midfield at Indiana from 1999-2002. Presser
and the Hoosiers went to three College Cups in his playing time there and won
the National Championship in 2003 when he served as their undergraduate
assistant coach.

Goalies in Competition

Wisconsin’s goaltender in
the Indiana game, senior Ryan Vint, was awarded Monday with Big Ten Defensive
Player of the Week honors for his performance Sunday. He notched a career-high
11 saves and allowed just one goal in the effort. This improved upon his
previous career-best performance, an eight-save outing during the overtime 1-0
loss at Creighton.

“Vint made a couple of
[good] saves,” Trask said of the Indiana performance. “He actually was very
close to getting a hand on the goal that they scored.”

Despite Vint’s play, he is
not the every day starter, as Trask is cycling through goalies. Trask indicated
that the starter from the Marquette game, freshman Max Jentsch, will be the the
starter Wednesday versus Northern Illinois.

“We’re getting some
competition in goal, which always makes [things] seem better,” Trask said.

Jentsch made his first
collegiate start at Marquette, where he made three saves on four shots on
goal. 

Tough Big Ten Season Coming 

Indiana was only the
opening of what will be a very challenging Big Ten soccer season.

“I’m looking forward to
it,” Trask said. “I know week in and week out the Big Ten is very strong and
I’m not going to sit up here and say I think we’re going to be working miracles
this year. But I do think we’re
going to get our fair share of results.”

Michigan, coming off of a
late-goal, 2-1 win over No. 24 Penn State, heads to Madison Sunday. Following
that, Wisconsin will face off in East Lansing on Oct. 17 against No. 11
Michigan State. 

Wisconsin defeated
Michigan State 2-1 in two overtimes last season, but also lost 3-0 to Michigan.
Wisconsin managed a 3-4-0 record against Big Ten opponents last season.

“It’ll be up and down,”
Trask said. “I think the guys are ready, mentally and emotionally, and we’ll
start doing some things tactically different. Hopefully when Michigan gets here
next Sunday, we’ll put our best foot forward and perform for the people of
Madison and the University.”