With Halloween less than a week away, nightmares started early for the Wisconsin men's soccer team on Tuesday night as UW-Green Bay outscored the Badgers 3-2 at the McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison.
It was senior night for the Badgers, but that was not enough to ease the frustrations of the game. Wisconsin (3-1-1 Big Ten, 9-6-2 overall), who controlled the ball the majority of the game, had 18 total shots, but was only able to score twice. UW-GB (12-5-0) scored three times on 10 total shots on goal.
Wisconsin senior Reid Johnson scored the first goal of the game 1:36 into the second half. The goal was assisted by senior William Bagayoko.
Approximately two minutes later, UW-GB sophomore Mike McCormack scored off an assist from senior Dan O'Brien. Wisconsin fought back, capitalizing on the Spanish connection between freshman Pablo Delgado, who scored the second Badger goal, and sophomore Victor Diaz, who assisted the play.
UW-GB sophomore Tosaint Ricketts tied the game with a penalty kick caused by a red card given to Wisconsin's junior Erik Ortega for intentional interference in the penalty box during a corner kick. Ortega will not be eligible to play in the Big Ten Conference Championship showdown against Indiana Friday.
With nine minutes left in regulation play, Phoenix senior O'Brien scored the game deciding goal by chipping the ball over Wisconsin goalkeeper Jake Settle, off a pass from junior Lati Ziba.
""We played pretty well tonight, but a couple of moments we broke down and they executed on it,"" Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman said.
Last weeks Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, Badger goalkeeper and senior co-captain Settle, only was able to make one save over the course of the night. Phoenix sophomore goalkeeper Adam Stikl made six saves.
In previous years, the Badgers have won 11 of the 14 matchups with the Phoenix, including a 3-0 victory in Madison last season. ""Games are always close with in-state teams,"" said Rohrman. ""They [UW-GB] have put together a great season.""
Wisconsin went into Tuesday night's game after a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 19 Northern Illinois. UW-GB entered the competition with the recent loss to Illinois-Chicago on Sunday, who Wisconsin defeated earlier this season when Illinois-Chicago was ranked No. 9 in the nation.
""The sting must leave us quickly; it's something we have to do,"" Rohrman said. ""We are too talented and too experienced to let this frustration carry over [into Friday's game].""
The Badgers will be traveling to Indiana this Friday to challenge the Hoosiers for the Big Ten Conference Championship. Both Wisconsin and Indiana have a (3-1-1) conference record. The last time the Badgers won a conference title was in 1995, the year they won the NCAA tournament. Indiana will be entering the game following a 4-2 win over Butler Tuesday night.
""We have good chances [to score]; we just have to put them in,"" Diaz said. ""Maybe we are saving our goals for Friday. Two goals is usually enough to win, but that wasn't the case for tonight.""
