Each season, the story is the same. Teams lose players and are looking for someone to step up and \fill the shoes"" of the other guy. This season, the story of the men's soccer team is no different.
After the 2004-2005 season, the Badgers lost Nick Van Sicklen and Jed Holhbein (who combined for 21 of the Badger 32 goals last season) to graduation. In their absence, the Badgers needed someone to fill the void. Enter Sho Fujita. Fujita, who sat out most of last season due to injuries, entered Sunday's game against Drake with no goals tallied in his Badger career. When the game ended, Sho had scored twice, won the game, clinched a tournament victory and made his mark as an offensive threat.
Fujita, as mentioned before, sat out much of last season due to a mixed bag of injuries. A torn anterior cruciate ligament during his senior year of high school, coupled with a back injury set him behind to start off last fall, but things really went bad when Fujita dislocated his shoulder in Creighton last year. The injury sidelined Sho for the remainder of the season, but in turn may have helped him in the long run.
""He [Sho] came back this fall, early this summer actually, and was working hard, getting in shape. He seems to be a bit quicker and a lot stronger on the ball. I think overall he just came back a lot better than last year,"" senior captain Aaron Holhbein said.
Fujita's success in Sunday night's game cannot be attributed to one thing, but rather to a collection of things. First, he's healthy. Even last season in the five games he played, Fujita was dealing with a nagging back injury, and to boot, the repaired ACL was still fresh in his mind, but the year break has given him a new opportunity.
""He's just healthy. His back is feeling better. His knee is better,"" Coach Rohrman said. ""He just feels more mobile; he feels faster, he feels quicker. He feels more like the player he was before all the setbacks. That alone, I think, psychologically, has helped him get over the hump too.""
Second, his role on the team is more defined this season. ""Last year, I was injured and I knew I wasn't going to play. But this year, I know if I keep working hard, I'm going to get to play,"" Fujita said. And third, Fujita can attribute much of his success to his roommate, and fellow sophomore, Victor Diaz. Fujita and Diaz (who was redshirted last season), have been roommates since coming to campus last year. The bond the two formed helped each player cope with last season Sho's frustrations. ""When he's injured, I'm helping him out and it's the same for him with me. He didn't play any last year either. So he knows,"" said Fujita.
All in all, Fujita's performance may have set a bar at a level he is not ready to jump quite yet. Both Holbein and coach Rohrman hinted at expecting huge games from Fujita in the future.
Rorhman said, ""If I tell him he can score 30 goals and get 20 assists that would be great. But I'm looking for Sho to do some very good things going forward. I think he's capable of scoring goals and getting a number of assists, setting people up, but at the same time he knows he's gotta do the work on the defensive side as well.""
Holbein echoed Rohrman's optimism, ""I'm hoping he keeps this up. He's been playing really well. Hopefully he can keep scoring goals and keep setting guys up for goals because we need that,"" said Holbein.
Fujita, who admits that scoring is the ""worst part"" of his game, seems to be up to the challenge, ""I've just got to keep playing hard. I'm not much of a goal scorer, so we'll see what happens."" Fujita might be a bit modest, but it seems to be working for him and for the Badgers too. If Sunday's performance is any indication of what the future has in store for Sho Fujita, it looks like the Badgers may have found the perfect candidate to step up and ""fill the shoes"" left by Van Sicklen and Holhbein.
