Prior to the quarterfinal against Northwestern, there was a palpable sense of optimism that the Wisconsin men's soccer team would go far in this season's Big Ten Tournament.
But it was not to be, as the Badgers' season ground to an abrupt halt after they fell 3-1 to third-seeded Northwestern Thursday.
The Badgers (0-4-3 Big Ten, 6-7-6 overall) were confident going into the game after a run of good results.
They beat Illinois-Chicago 2-1 and then tied conference champion Indiana 0-0 at home Sunday.
Head coach Jeff Rohrman named an unchanged lineup from Sunday's game, in hope of a similar positive result.
But the Badgers were undone barely a minute into the game, as Northwestern (12-3-4) drew ahead courtesy of senior midfielder David Roth.
The Wildcats had a corner kick from the left that was cleared out of the box, but Roth latched onto the loose ball and drove a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Alex Horwath.
Clearly stung, Wisconsin battled back and drew even in the 32nd minute with junior defender Andy Miller's first goal of the season.
Miller met a Northwestern clearance with an opportunistic low drive that took a deflection off a defender and nestled in the left corner past Wildcats goalkeeper Justin Pines.
Pines only started because of an injury to starting goalkeeper Misha Rosenthal, but he played a starring role in Northwestern's victory with seven saves to limit Wisconsin to one goal.
Northwestern drew ahead again in the second half when Roth met a cross from the left with a low shot to the right to make it 2-1.
Mark Blades then scored his third goal of the season - a diving header into the left side of the net - in the 66th minute to leave the Badgers staring at elimination.
A late flurry from the Badgers gave sophomore forward Eric Conklin a scoring opportunity with a firm low shot. Junior forward Victor Diaz also threatened with a late free kick, but the Badgers were unable to beat Pines.
The 3-1 loss spells the end of the season for the Badgers, who bid farewell to seniors Nick Caronna, B.J. Goodman, Sho Fujita, Erik Ortega and Dick Pearson.
Meanwhile, Northwestern advances to face Ohio State Friday in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
Diaz makes first-team All-Big Ten
Although the 2007 season was not a stellar one for UW, Diaz received first-team All-Big Ten honors.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
