The UW men's soccer team (1-4 Big Ten, 9-9 overall) will finish up the Big Ten season this Sunday as they travel to Evanston, Ill. to face the Northwestern Wildcats (0-3-2, 6-6-5).
The Badgers are coming off a disappointing 1-0 home loss to Michigan State this past weekend and look to rebound against a Wildcats team that has improved vastly from previous years.
Although Northwestern has yet to win a Big Ten match, they have tied Michigan State and Ohio State, both teams that defeated Wisconsin earlier this season. UW Head Coach Jeff Rohrman knows that Northwestern is a talented team that cannot be taken lightly.
\Northwestern is a much improved team. Coach Lenahan has done a great job down there since he has gotten there. They had a great win against Duke this year and I don't think a lot of people would have expected that,"" Rohrman said.
In addition to Michigan State and Ohio State, Northwestern has also had some success against other teams that the Badgers have struggled with. The Wildcats defeated a UW-Green Bay team that overcame UW earlier in the season.??Both teams came out on top against DePaul, while UW has defeated Illinois-Chicago, a team that beat Northwestern. When asked if the players and coaches look much into those statistics, Rohrman felt that the team needs to focus on preparing themselves instead.
""You're always curious on how they do against common opponents,"" Rohrman said. ""But at the end of the day it's going to come down to your performance when you play that team.""
In last week's loss to Michigan State, inconsistency and the inability to move the ball downfield hurt the Badgers, and those subjects have been a focal point at practice thus far this week.
""I think we have to be a little more connected in terms of knowing where people are and finding them, and just our movement and sharpness in terms of passing and all that sort of stuff has to get a lot better,"" Rohrman said.
Even though the Big Ten season has been a struggle so far, junior forward Jed Hohlbein has flourished this year and already has a team high 22 points. With a solid performance from Hohlbein, the Badgers could be well on their way to finishing the Big Ten regular season on a high note.
""What Jed has brought is a great level of professionalism. He is a true competitor and he wants to win. He's a goal scorer and he has a great knack for putting the ball in the net and he's as good as anyone inside the box,"" Rohrman said of Hohlbein's success.
Northwestern has their own star in freshman Gerardo Alvarez.?? Alvarez has accumulated 23 points this season, including eight goals and seven assists.
With the weather expected to be cold, goals will be hard to come by, which is not good news for either team. Wisconsin has been shut out in three of their four conference losses.?? Northwestern has not fared much better as they have only scored four goals in conference play. Senior goalkeeper Eric Hanson knows the weather will be a factor and that UW must not look past against the Wildcats.
""They are going to be a real hard working team and their field is right by the lake, so it's usually 20 degrees colder at their field than everywhere else in Chicago.??So it's going to be a real battle. It's going to be real cold and I think the mentally stronger team will win,"" Hanson said.
