After a four-game road stretch, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team will return home to welcome Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville to the McClimon Soccer Complex Tuesday night, Sept. 22.
The Badgers (2-4-0) are currently riding a two-game win streak, their longest winning streak since the 2013 season, following consecutive wins against Rutgers and St. John’s.
SIUE (3-2-1) is coming off a West Coast road trip where they tied San Diego State in double overtime and pulled off a win against the University of San Diego. The Cougars are unbeaten in their last three matches.
In the past few games, the emergence of sophomore midfielder Chris Mueller and sophomore goalkeeper Adrian Remeniuk have propelled the Badgers to two straight wins. Mueller netted twice in the matches against Rutgers and St. John’s, while Remeniuk tallied 13 saves between the two matches.
Wisconsin will be without senior defender and team captain Adam Lauko, who is suspended for this game due to a red card he received in the match versus St. John’s. Enda O’Neill is likely to fill the gap left by Lauko.
The Badgers face a stiff challenge from the Cougars, who won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last season.
Kickoff is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Wisconsin’s key to victory: Get Barlow and Conner involved
Two of the Badgers’ top offensive threats have yet to find the back of the net this season.
Sophomore forward Tom Barlow led the team in goals last season, but has struggled to find his scoring touch through the first six games of the season. If Barlow can get going, expect the Badgers’ offense to start producing two to three goals per game.
Senior midfielder and team captain Drew Conner is also a key piece to the UW attack. Conner isn’t one to score often, but he’s instrumental to orchestrating the offense. The captain has yet to tally an assist or goal, so a stronger performance from Conner can only help the team.
SIUE player to watch: Sophomore forward Devyn Jambga
The youngster Devyn Jambga from Harare, Zimbabwe leads the Cougars in points this season with six. Jambga has the hot foot at the moment for SIUE, scoring two goals and assisting on another two in the past three games. Expect Jambga to be a constant threat to Remeniuk’s goal all night long.
