At the beginning of the season, the Wisconsin Badgers soccer team’s goal was to make the NCAA tournament. And now, the guys in red have exceeded even their own expectations by clinching home field advantage in the first round of the NCAA tournament. As their tournament matchup fast approaches, the Badgers are now shifting their goals toward making a run in the NCAA tournament.

“At the beginning of the season we said we wanted to make the tournament,” senior AJ Cochran said. “We are leaving those goals behind us now, and our new goal is to win the game ahead of us.”

The Badgers are excited to be playing at home once again. Wisconsin is 9-0 at home this season with wins against three tournament teams, including ninth-seeded Marquette and 11th-seeded Michigan State.

“We are so excited to play at home,” junior Jacob Brindle said. “We know our field. We love our fans. It should be a great atmosphere and a great game.”

The appearance in the tournament is Wisconsin’s second appearance in the history of the program and the first since 1995 when the Badgers ran the table in the tournament to win the National Championship.

The field this year hosts seven teams the Badgers have played already this season. Against those tournament teams Wisconsin finished 5-2-1 with their losses coming against Northwestern — a team they had beaten earlier — and Big Ten regular season champion Penn State. That’s not to say it will be smooth sailing for the Badgers, as Wisconsin has a tough road of solid opponents ahead of them.

First, Wisconsin will welcome the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers to the McClimon Center for the first time this year after coming to a 1-1 draw with the squad on Oct. 23. The game was a hard fought battle that witnessed the two goals within 30 seconds of one another.

“We tied 1-1 early in the season at their place,” Brindle said. “We are just excited to get them at home now.”

“It’s nice to be hosting them,” head coach John Trask added. “I’d much rather play them at home than at their facility. They’ve got a pretty rabid fan base, and I’m sure plenty of them will make the trip up to Madison.

The Panthers struck first on a penalty kick in that game while Brindle, the Badgers’ top goal scorer, was able to tie the game again on a header from the back post.

The two teams remained deadlocked through two overtimes, forcing both sides to stop as they called a draw. However, this time there will be no draw and a winner will have to be named to move on to fourth-seeded Notre Dame.

Notre Dame received a bye in the first round after finishing the season with just one loss to Virginia in late October. If Wisconsin is able to handle Milwaukee they will surely have their work cut out for them against one of the most impressive sides in the country.

One thing that may instill some confidence in that game would be Big Ten opponent Northwestern’s performance against Notre Dame earlier in the season. The Wildcats were able to hold Notre Dame to one goal as they held out for a draw against the Fighting Irish.

The Badgers also have the advantage of coming from one of the most consistent conferences in the country. With Indiana clinching the automatic bid for the Big Ten, the conference will be represented by five of their seven teams. Only Ohio State and Michigan are on the outside looking in this season.

In addition, Maryland, who will be coming into the Big Ten next year, snagged the fifth overall seed.

Trask credits the success of the program this year to their commitment to doing things the “Badger Way.”

“The thing I’m proudest about is, you hear about this in other sports around here, we have a Badger Way of doing things,” Trask said. “We play possession soccer, we are focused, we are disciplined. It’s what football has here, it’s definitely what Bo Ryan has here. Year-to-year the same philosophy is engrained in our players, and that’s a step in the right direction for us.”

If Trask sticks to the philosophy the Badgers have a very good chance to pick up their performance, make a few upsets and take a chance at making a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

“I think there’s more in this team,” Trask said. “I’ve said it consistently to them. I’ll say it publicly. I still don’t think we’ve seen the best soccer out of this group of players. And that’s what we’ll be striving for on the practice field this afternoon and hopefully come match time at 7:00 on Thursday. It should be a spectacular show.”