Hot off its second win of the season Wednesday, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team is chasing a third as it heads to Ohio State this weekend.
In their last road game of the regular season, the Badgers (2-11-2, 0-3-1 Big Ten) hope to follow in the football team’s footsteps and take down the higher-ranked Buckeyes.
With a change in formation that has helped lead to renewed confidence after finally getting another win, the Badgers know they’ll be able to put up a strong fight on the road.
“It’s big time for us especially since we have Ohio State this weekend,” senior forward Bryan Gerster said. “I think Ohio State is ranked and we always play well against Ohio State. Hopefully we can carry this one into there and learn from our mistakes in the back since we just switched up the formations again so we still have a lot to learn in back as well as in front.”
“I think we’re going to come out pretty good against Ohio State.”
As Wisconsin hits the road in hopes of getting its first Big Ten win, the team will face an Ohio State team who is 8-5-2, 2-2-0, meaning the squad will have a fight ahead of it.
With another huge Big Ten game on the road, the Badgers are confident they’ll be able to come home with a positive result just like they did earlier in the season after getting a tie with powerhouse Indiana.
In order to pick up a win, Wisconsin will have to get by Ohio State sophomore goalkeeper Matt Lampson, who has played in all 15 games for the Buckeyes. Lampson has allowed only 12 goals this season while making 70 saves.
Not only do they have to keep up the new offense they’ve created in the last three games, the Badgers also have to stay strong on defense. OSU’s top three scorers have combined for 10 goals on the season so far. Of those 10 goals, five of them were scored by senior forward Konrad Warzycha, six-foot-one forward who uses his size and physicality to his advantage.
As Gerster said, the Badgers do play well against the Buckeyes. UW is only two games behind OSU at 11-13-1 in the series. Last season UW beat OSU at home 2-0 to break a five-game losing streak to OSU, which was also the last time Wisconsin defeated a ranked opponent.
Freshman forward Nick Janus knows the game will be tough, but believes the Badgers will be able to keep up with the Buckeyes.
“It’s just like any other team,” Janus said. “We just have to take it to them. We know it’s going to be a hard game, but we’ll just have to keep our energy up. It’s just one of those games.”
It may be, but the Badgers need to stay strong on the road and there’s no doubt their recent win will help them.
If Wisconsin’s domination over Ohio State this fall in football and women’s hockey makes its way to Ohio with the squad, they have a good chance of creating another huge upset.
Trask only had one thing to say about the weekend’s match up.
“We’re going to knock them off like the football team did.”
