The future of the Wisconsin's men's soccer team gets its first regular season test this weekend when the Badgers play host to Evansville and Dayton Friday and Sunday. The Badgers, who play Evansville on at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Dayton at 2 p.m. Sunday, will look for help from a group of five freshmen who represent the best recruiting class Wisconsin has had in head coach Jeff Rohrman's three-year tenure.
The freshman group of Eric Ortega, Dirk Pearson, Nick Caronna, Sho Fujita and B.J. Goodman drew rave reviews from coaches and fans alike during the exhibition season.
\I think they're all of the caliber to [help] us in a number of ways this year,"" Rohrman said.
The coaches are hoping this influx of youth can help the Badgers build upon the promise of last season, when the Badgers were able to jump back above the .500 mark.
Although the freshmen have only two exhibition games under their belts, the Badgers are hoping to enter the regular season running.
""We'd like to start out with some good wins at home here to set the stage for what level of play is expected,"" Rohrman said.
""I think it's really important to get off to a fast start. Last season was an up and down year, and the first weekend was an indicator of that. We lost our first game and won our second game. I think if we can win our first two games it will give us tons of momentum going into the rest of the season,"" added senior forward Jed Holbein, last year's points leader.
In their first opponent, the Badgers see a lot of themselves. Evansville, who is also on the rebound after going seven years without a tournament appearance, has an influx of youth similar to the Badgers.
""Coach Golan has done a good job. He's had a couple of good recruiting classes. They're going to have a little bit of a different flavor than us,"" Rohrman said. ""They have maybe two, three, four foreign guys that we haven't seen that much of, that we don't know that much about, so there's going to be a little bit of uncertainty in regard to that, but he's going to have some good players for sure.""
While the Badgers might not know that much about their Friday opponent, they are all too familiar with the Flyers, who they lost to 3-2 last year after taking a 2-0 lead into the second half.
""We actually owe them [Dayton] one,"" Rohrman said. ""We had them down 2-0 and squandered it away late. So I know our seniors are looking forward to that one on Sunday for sure.""
Hohlbein, who scored one of the Badgers two goals in that game, admits that he is looking for revenge.
""We felt that we should have won that game; we gave it away in the second half. I think there will be a little extra [effort] on Sunday to try and get that back,"" he said.
This season's team poster boasts the theme, ""Going to the Big Dance."" The Badgers know that reaching that goal starts this weekend against two teams that many expect to be there.
In other action, UW-Milwaukee will play Dayton at 5 p.m. Friday before playing Evansville at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. All games will take place at McClimon Soccer Complex.
