Inconsistency plagued the Wisconsin men's soccer team at times this last fall, but the squad still had a chance to win the Big Ten championship before falling off late in the season, finishing 7-9-2 overall and 3-3-0 in conference play.
From the very beginning of the season, Wisconsin played in several close games. On Sept. 6, the first weekend of the regular season, UW turned in one of the most dramatic finishes in recent memory. One day after playing to a scoreless draw with Virginia Tech, the Badgers looked to be on the way to another clean slate against Western Illinois. With less than ten seconds remaining, however, sophomore midfielder Austin Spohn sent a free kick into the box where fellow sophomore forward Mark Roos found the back of the net with a well-placed header.
The 1-0 win failed to spark any sustained momentum, however, as the Badgers dropped five of their next seven contests. That run included a stretch of three consecutive shutouts. Senior goaltender Alex Horwath provided excellent play between the pipes throughout the year, but the offense sputtered for extended periods of time.
A year after scoring ten goals and earning second team All Big Ten honors, senior forward Scott Lorenz managed only two goals. Senior Taylor Waspi led the team in goals with three, and the team managed just fifteen tallies on the season.
Despite the lack of offensive punch, the Badgers turned the season around under the guidance of first-year head coach Todd Yeagley. The team ripped off three wins in a span of eight days and had a chance to win the Big Ten championship heading into a Halloween showdown in College Station, Pa. with Penn State. However, the Nittany Lions earned a 2-1 victory and ended the hopes of a title.
Two of the most intense matchups of the year came against the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana managed a 1-0 victory in Madison when after nearly sixty minutes Horwath yielded the game-winner. The Badgers also had their season ended at the hands of the Hoosiers, who defeated UW 2-0 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
Aside from the fact that the Hoosiers are perennially one of the Big Ten's best teams, Coach Yeagley's father, Jerry, coached in Bloomington for over three decades and became the NCAA's all-time wins leader with 544, en route to winning six national championships. The younger Yeagley was a part of three of those title teams and earned All-American honors each of his four years with the program.
That rivalry should continue to provide entertaining soccer and compelling story lines next year. Shortly after the 2009 campaign ended for the Badgers, Yeagley announced that he was leaving the program to take over as the head coach at Indiana. After just one year as a Division I head coach, Yeagley returns to his alma mater to work in the shadow of his father.
In the search for his replacement, the Wisconsin athletic department turned to another Hoosier graduate. John Trask, who has been the head coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago, will lead the Badgers next year.
Player of the Year- Alex Horwath, senior goaltender
Horwath started 17 games in goal and established himself as one of the best goalies in the Big Ten. He earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors twice and tallied four shutouts on the year. That included back-to-back shutouts of Virginia Tech and Western Illinois to start the year.
Horwath registered a 1.12 goals against average and kept the Badgers in many tight games. He also made the Acedemic All-Big Ten team both his junior and senior seasons.
