With a No. 6 ranking in the NCAA national polls, an unbeaten 6-0-2 record and a 17-4 goal differential against its first eight opponents, all signs pointed to Indiana as the clear favorite against the Wisconsin men’s soccer team Sunday.

However, the Badgers (5-3-2) pulled an unlikely upset, beating the Hoosiers 2-0 at McClimon Soccer Complex for the first time since Oct., 13, 1995. The victory in Wisconsin’s Big Ten opener extended UW’s unbeaten streak to five games.

Beating Indiana carries extra weight for the Badgers, as IU head coach Todd Yeagley coached UW in 2009. Wisconsin head coach John Trask also said Yeagley and his IU assistants recruited more than half the players on UW’s current roster.

“Those guys recruited most of our team,” Trask said. “So, was it a big deal to my guys? I’m sure it was. Any time a coach leaves a university, you feel a little hard done by. … How much of that was in there with our guys? I don’t know. I think they know I’m the coach now, and we have a good working relationship. I love my guys. I’ll take my guys any day of the week.”

Trask also has roots at Indiana, playing for the IU soccer team from 1984-1987 and serving on its coaching staff for nine years, during which the Hoosiers won eight Big Ten titles and back-to-back NCAA championships in 1998 and 1999.

Wisconsin’s midfielder Tomislav Zadro put the team ahead 1-0 in the 53rd minute by converting on a hard strike to the far post from the edge of the 6-yard box. He was excited to see the team’s hard work pay off against such a talented opponent.

“Honestly, I am so amazed,” Zadro said. “We’ve been practicing really hard. We needed a big win, and thank God it came. I’m just really proud of all our guys.”

Zadro said Trasks’ halftime speech inspired a more aggressive and confident performance in the second half.

“Coach talked to us at halftime, and he honestly made us believe that we could beat them and that we’re the better team,” Zadro said. “We just came out really strong, and we got two goals.”

According to Zadro, the Badgers are incredibly confident that they will beat every team they play, even when trailing. He even said that if the team can beat Indiana, it could definitely beat any team in the country.

Zadro leads Wisconsin in points with 11 off of two goals and five assists. Sunday’s goal marked his seventh consecutive game where he recorded at least one point. He said the whole team was ready for the competitive atmosphere they faced against Indiana.

“We were all definitely really fired up about the game,” Zadro said. “Coach was really excited about it. He was preparing us well. You could tell on that field that it was a pretty intense game.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Max Jentsch recorded five saves in the shutout victory and remains undefeated in goal on the season at 3-0-2. Jentsch says he hopes the IU victory will be a turning point for the team, now that it has won as many times through the first 10 games as it did the entire previous season. He described a different feel to the team this year.

“It definitely feels a lot different,” Jentsch said. “If the games are closer at the end, we dominate more than the other team. We’re not always playing defense like we were last year. We’re putting the pressure on the other team.”

Jentsch eliminated any hope of a Hoosier comeback when he saved IU midfielder Harrison Petts’ penalty kick in the 61st minute. At the time, Indiana appeared to be gaining momentum and could have knotted the game up at 1-1, but Jentsch made a diving stop to preserve the lead for UW.

Trask said Wisconsin showed its maturity and assurance they could compete with a more highly-touted opponent when they came out aggressively and attacked in the second half.

“I actually got on them at halftime because I didn’t think they were playing confidently enough,” Trask said. “I think they were believing in the hype of Indiana … and I challenged them. I said, ‘Guys, are you really playing the way we want you to play?’

“I think that second half, we started winning balls and tackling. I told the guys after the game sometimes when you’re aggressive, you’re going to foul the other team, but a good soccer team doesn’t play with zero fouls. That’s part of soccer.”