In a battle between Big Ten foes, the University of Wisconsin men’s soccer team took down Rutgers by a score of 3-2 on Sunday afternoon. The Badgers traveled to New Jersey to pick up this important Big Ten road victory.
The Badgers started the game against the Scarlet Knights very slow, falling behind 1-0 after an early goal from Thomas Dovell of Rutgers. The Badgers only accumulated a total of five shots in the first half. Going into halftime, the Badgers knew they needed a spark of some kind.
Men’s soccer: Badgers fall to Wolverines in hard-fought game
Only eight minutes into the second half, the Badgers received that spark from Catalano. Catalano scored on a gorgeous header off a great pass from teammate Chris Mueller. The goal from Catalano is his third of the year.
Shortly after that, junior Elan Koenig scored his first goal of the year for the Badgers. The goal was assisted by Tom Barlow and Chris Mueller. Then, in the 79th minute, Chris Mueller scored to seal the game for the red and white. The Badgers totaled 14 shots in the second half which allowed them to find their much needed offense.
After the victory, Coach John Trask was ecstatic about how well his star players performed, stating to UW Athletics that Chris Mueller “proved why he is an all-American today.” Coach Trask reitterated he was proud of his team and what they had managed to accomplish thus far this season.
“I really felt that if we kept believing, we would win the game,” Track said in the same interview. “They’ve been through so much now. They know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and we played to our strengths.”
The Badgers host their rival Marquette on October 4th. Thursday’s game will be hospital night — any employee of a local Madison hospital can get into the game for free with hospital ID.
