The Big Ten season is here and the Wisconsin men's soccer team is ready for the challenge. The Badgers will take their 6-2 overall record and square off against the 4-3 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio. The Badgers are no strangers to foreign turf after playing seven of their first eight games away from the treasured McClimon soccer complex. The Badgers started off red hot in winning their first four games, but have had two minor setbacks since launching themselves into the national picture.
\We have learned not to take teams lightly because those two teams weren't exactly the best competition we played and we just came out pretty flat against them and uninspired. I think we will be ready for teams in the future,"" sophomore midfielder/defender Ryan Nord said. Nord netted his first goal last week, which sealed the win for the Badgers against Eastern Illinois.
""We are definitely ready for Big Ten play,"" Head Coach Jeff Rohrman said. ""We are sitting at 6-2 and certainly deep down we feel we should be 8-0. As a result of that, we have learned some lessons about ourselves and how to approach each game. I thought we demonstrated some great character in the last two weeks in terms of coming back after tough losses, which shows a lot about what this team is about.""
The Badgers are hungry and confident as they look to wreak havoc in Big Ten country.
""We are definitely ready for Big Ten play. We have been working hard in practice and we have been looking real sharp lately. Ohio State is a great team to open against, they are pretty solid so it should be a great game and hopefully we can come out on top,"" Nord said.
The team standing in the way of the Badgers and their first win in the Big Ten is Ohio State. Although mainly known for the ""other football"" the Buckeyes' soccer team should not be overlooked. Badger fans should not let their 4-3 record fool them. The Buckeyes have beaten some quality opponents and have had several chances to win in each of their games. In its second game, Ohio State had a huge win against the Richmond Spiders, who had defeated then No. 17 Penn State.
The Buckeyes are led offensively by junior forward Andy Rosenband and freshmen forward Kevin Nugent. Rosenband has four goals on the year, while Nugent has three. Defensively the Buckeyes have been rotating sophomore keepers Chad Brown and Jason Wimmert. Between the two of them they have 14 saves and have allowed seven goals. Brown will most likely get the start against the Badgers.
The Badgers will look to control the Buckeyes extraordinary speed up top and get on the board early. The Buckeyes have not responded well to early deficits and the Badgers will look to get in their heads. Ohio State is 2-0 at home this year, but that was non-conference; now the true test begins for both teams.
