The University of Wisconsin men’s soccer (4–4–1, 1–1 Big Ten) claimed their second consecutive road win with a 1–0 victory over the University of Marquette (3–6–0, 1–1 Big East) Wednesday.
The match was a tight contest throughout with no love lost between the two sides. The 32 fouls and two yellow cards that were dished out by referee Nick Balcer are a clear indicator of the tough nature of the match.
The first half saw the Badgers get off eight shots to Marquette’s one, but they couldn’t capitalize on their attacking dominance and the match remained scoreless at the half.
The deadlock was broken at the 55-minute mark when inform freshman Andrew Akindele picked up his second goal of the season for the Badgers after getting on the end of a through ball from Michael Russell II.
Men’s soccer: Badgers follow miracle comeback win with game against Marquette
In a conversation with UW Athletics post-match, Badger Head Coach John Trask was pleased to see some goal-scoring production from his forwards.
“Nice to get a goal from one of our forwards,” Trask said. “It was a challenge I put to the forwards at half-time so it was nice to see Andrew get a goal.”
After the Wisconsin goal, there was plenty of attacking play from Marquette as they looked to get back into the match. However, despite having eight shots and six corners in the second half, Marquette was unable to get on the scoreboard and the game finished 1–0 Wisconsin.
Speaking post-match, Trask acknowledged that at times the soccer on display wasn’t easy on the eyes, but sometimes you’ve got to dig deep and scrap for wins.
“This is a part of college soccer. You can win by doing good things and you can win by battling,” Trask said. “You have to have both those parts if you’re going to be successful.”
The games don’t get any easier for Wisconsin as they have a date with No. 5 Michigan State (8–0–2, 2–0 Big Ten) in East Lansing Sunday.
Women’s soccer: Badgers look to capitalize this weekend against Rutgers, Maryland
The highly ranked Michigan State side are yet to suffer defeat this season with eight wins and two draws next to their name. Those eight wins include a victory over No. 8 Notre Dame, as well as Big Ten wins over Rutgers and Penn State.
While Wisconsin has had trouble finding the scoring touch at times this season with only eight goals through nine games, Michigan State has not had these problems. The Spartans have scored 22 goals in 10 matches this season, with Ryan Sierakowski and DeJuan Jones leading the team in goals with five each.
The match kicks off at 2 p.m. Sunday and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
