As Wisconsin’s men’s soccer team falls to 1-8-2 after dropping a thrilling Big Ten game to Michigan Sunday, the team’s intensity and energy level throughout games remains in question.
Unlike some midweek non-conference games UW has played so far this season, the team started out Sunday’s showing amped-up due to the Big Ten weekend atmosphere of the game. However, head coach John Trask noted Wisconsin could not sustain this sense of urgency.
After scoring 17 minutes into the game, UW allowed the talented attacking squad of Michigan to even the score before the half, and then take a commanding 3-1 lead 58 minutes in. Trask said the team looked uninspired from that point until finally scoring again with less than eight minutes remaining.
“We’re not a team that can take not moments, but periods of time off,” Trask said. “It’s becoming a bit of a trend, and I think it’s the same when you’re not winning games. Every tackle hurts a little bit more. You know it was hot out today, next week it will be cold, and the next week it will be rainy and the next week it will be ‘the referee wasn’t on our side.'”
Although the team looked especially motivated during the final minutes of play, with the Wolverines leading 3-2 and UW playing better than they had midweek, it still was not enough to earn a victory.
Trask said he has tested his squad’s leadership and determination, but the players have not responded accordingly on the field come game time.
“We don’t seem to be getting enough leadership out on the field, and I have challenged them,” Trask said. “I don’t care if it comes from the freshmen, the sophomores, the juniors [or] the seniors. We just look like we’re accepting defeat right now, and that’s disappointing. That’s something we’ve got to change. We’ve got to change that culture. We better do it in a hurry.”
To adjust to this lack in energy level and confidence the 1-8-2 Badgers have experienced, players will have to find it within themselves to show up at games motivated and ready to go.
“It can’t come from the sideline, it has to come from within the group,” Trask said. “I’m a firm believer in that. If it has to be manufactured by the pep band, or cheerleaders or coaches that are cheerleading, it’s false. At some point, they have to trust each other, they’ve got to fight through it themselves and they’ve got to hold each other accountable.”
From a statistical standpoint alone, it appears as though the Badgers competed valiantly against the Wolverines, earning 10 corner kicks compared to Michigan’s four and taking 12 shots on goal. The Badgers failed, however, to maintain the lead or keep the necessary focus all 90 minutes to win the game.
Junior defender/midfielder Colin Mani, who prompted a surge in confidence for Wisconsin with his first half goal echoed Trask’s advice, emphasizing the needs for individual commitment moving forward, especially for midweek games.
“Every individual on the team needs to find [confidence] within themselves,” Mani said. “We have a lot of underclassmen and freshmen on our team, and so it’s new for them to have these midweek games. Just getting them the experience for that, the rest of us upperclassmen taking them on our shoulders and showing them the ropes, and then getting them onboard and pushing forward is key for those midweek games.”
Mani recognized the leadership and dedication of senior defender/midfielder Aaron Nichols as a strong guide for younger players and veterans alike.
“I think Aaron Nichols has done a great job [of emerging as a leader and showing the younger players the ropes to boost their intensity in games],” Nichols said. “He has been a key player for us all year. He gives us a real great attack through the right side of the field. He’s a great strength and we look to him for a lot of our attack.”
Trask admitted the difficulties in approaching a game against such a strong opponent when your team has so little to show from its results thus far in the season.
“It’s hard to find confidence when you’re walking into a game at 1-7-2,” Trask said. “We have to keep working on it because that’s sports. I mean, that is how you become a good team; you find it within yourself. We didn’t…It took us a long time, I felt, to really show consistent fight then.”
