The Wisconsin men’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker at the McClimon Complex Wednesday night 1-0 as Marquette’s Kelmend Islami netted the game-winner in the 77th minute.

The Badgers (2-8-1 overall, 1-1-1 Big Ten) had scored multiple times in their previous two matches against UW-Green Bay and Michigan, but were unable to find the back of the net Wednesday night in an offensive struggle.

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Marquette (4-4-2 overall, 0-1-1 Big East) took advantage of a missed punch by UW goalkeeper Adrian Remeniuk, and the ball fell to Islami who put in the lone goal of the game. Wisconsin pressed the rest of the match, but wasn’t able to muster up an equalizing goal.

The Badgers will look to bounce back Saturday night as they take on Michigan State at 7 p.m. at the McClimon Complex.

Post Problems

During the I-94 rivalry, the Badgers hit the post twice and were unlucky that neither shot bounced in.

The first instance came in the 37th minute when Tom Barlow was one-on-one with the Marquette goalkeeper. His low shot beat the keeper, but not the post, and his shot pinged back out into the box and was eventually cleared by the Golden Eagles.

The second chance was produced off of an Alex Masbruch cross in the 82nd minute. Sam Brotherton was able to beat the keeper to the ball and get his head on the cross, only to see his header ding off the post and go out-of-bounds for a goal kick. That header would have tied the game for the Badgers.

Defensive Improvement

Coming into this match, the Badgers had conceded 12 goals in the previous four games. Against Marquette, UW’s backline put in a solid performance during the entire 90 minutes of play. The defense was cruelly punished for their determined outing by a goal that came against the run of play, which was partially due to a miss-timed punch by Remeniuk.

Super Seniors

The lone goal of the match came on a connection between two of Marquette’s three starting seniors. Defender Adam Hermsen’s cross sailed past the flying fist of Remeniuk and the ball landed at the feet of forward Kelmend Islami, who finished off the only real chance that the Golden Eagles were able to produce in the second half.

Quotable

UW head coach John Trask on the team’s performance:

“I felt we absorbed some stuff, but we were pretty resolute in our defending. That’s been improved. We weren’t just giving up soft opportunities like we were earlier in the year. We need balls to skim off the inside of the post and go in right now. We seemed to take over the game in many ways, and we just weren’t able to put a play away. Compliment Marquette for making the play, but there’s too many mistakes from us.”

Trask on the upcoming Big Ten game versus Michigan State:

“It’s tight. We have a game in hand on a lot of teams. I think we’re tied for fifth right now with Michigan State. We’re home against Michigan State, and they’re coming off a tough loss to Ohio State, 2-1, and we’re coming off a 3-3 win on the road. I always count on these guys to bounce back, and I think they will. Hopefully we’ll have a good Big Ten performance this weekend.”

Trask on the focus at practices:

“It’s just continuing to harden the guys. There’s not enough of them that understand their moments in a game. I wouldn’t say the balance of the team is wrong. I think sometimes it’s the balance of the individuals of what they think they bring to the table. There have been some definite improvements in some areas, and we just gotta continue to work on it.”