The Wisconsin men's soccer team lost to Michigan State Sunday after the Spartans scored on a penalty kick in the final minutes of the game.
Michigan State forward Doug DeMartin scored his 10th goal of the season when he knocked in a penalty kick with six minutes left in the game, putting the Spartans up 1-0. The scene was reminiscent of last Saturday when Wisconsin settled for a tie with Michigan after giving up a penalty kick in the last 24 seconds of regulation play.
Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman said in a press conference the Monday before the game that Big Ten teams like Michigan and Michigan State make the conference a strong conference to play in.
Any team on any given day can beat another team. You know, we don't have any weak teams in this conference."" He said ""I think that's what makes it special and makes it one of the most competitive, if not the most competitive, conference in the country for men's soccer.""
The Badgers (4-4-2) stayed with the Spartans throughout most of the game, and led 18-14 in shots by the end of the game. Badger forward Scott Lorenz had four shots on goal during the game, and six total. Also stepping up on offense, senior midfielder Kenny Dix had four shots total, and reserve Austin Spohn had three total shots.
DeMartin, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, led Michigan State (5-4-0) with four shots on goal. Jeff Ricondo and Ben Pirmann both tallied one shot on goal against Wisconsin. UW goalkeeper Alex Horwath had five saves in the game and currently leads the Big Ten in saves.
Although the conference losses have been hard for the team, Rohrman is quick to point out the elevated level of play and the maturity of the Wisconsin players.
""We've had some great play out of a number of our players,"" he said.
Michigan State is undefeated in conference play while the loss in East Lancing leaves the Badgers hungry for their first Big Ten win.
They will take on UW-Milwaukee Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the McClimon Soccer Complex. Then the Badgers will host No. 3 Northwestern at 1 p.m. Sunday.
- uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
