The Wisconsin's men's soccer team (4-3-2) lost a hard-fought game 1-0 to Western Illinois (7-2-1) Wednesday night at the McClimon Soccer Complex.
The Badgers were coming off a demoralizing 1-1 tie to Michigan last Saturday and could not get it together to get past the Leathernecks.
A very uneventful first half ended at a 0-0 tie. The badgers had a few quality chances at goal, but failed to capitalize on any of them.
The Western Illinois defense gave the Badgers problems all night.
They stay compact, they make it a little bit difficult, but having said that, I still thought that later in the game we did some pretty good things, we just couldn't reward ourselves,"" Wisconsin head coach Jeff Rohrman said.
Just into the second half, Western Illinois sophomore midfielder Cosimo Patano broke the stalemate with a 30-yard unassisted strike that landed just inside the post past senior goalkeeper Alex Horwath. It was Patano's second goal of the year.
""The kid hit a rip. He couldn't hit it any better, and we gave it to him. We didn't defend. We didn't defend in the middle. Midfield didn't check back and defend him,"" Horwath said.
Wisconsin controlled the game from that point on and came close to evening the game a number of times.
The Badger offense had nine corner-kick opportunities, but was unable to hit the back of the net. The closest they came was a header off the post by junior Bryan Gerster.
Wisconsin struggled to finish on any offensive breakthrough the entire night, especially after falling behind.
""I thought it took us a little too long to kind of pick up the pace and be the aggressor,"" Rohrman said. ""It wasn't really until their guy hit an unbelievable shot and our backs were a little against the wall that we picked up the tempo, and were a little more assertive going forward. I thought the last 30 minutes of the game we clearly dominated but just couldn't get the goal.
""We hit the crossbar, we hit the post, but to come away with 18 shots and only really two on goal, our guys are better than that.""
The game was frustrating for the players and Rohrman. Now unable to get a win in their last three games, the Badgers need to put together a streak of wins if they want to make it to post-season play.
""Our backs are up against the wall, we have no choice but to win. We have nine games left, we gotta win six of them if we even want to think about the tournament,"" Horwath said. ""They're all big games and we can do it. We've shown we can do it. We have played against the best and beaten the best, but we can't come out here with this anymore. This is unacceptable.""
The Badgers head to Michigan State for a battle Sunday with the Spartans. The team will be looking to retaliate for a 3-0 loss to the Spartans last year in Madison.
