The Wisconsin men's soccer team (0-0 Big Ten, 3-3-1 overall) came into this weekend's home stand hoping to rebound after a tough loss to Virgina last week but that didn't pan out as the Badgers planned, as the team went 0-2 on home turf, losing 3-2 in triple overtime on Friday to UC-Irvine and 2-1 to Memphis Sunday.
On Friday night UW fought hard but suffered heartbreak against the ninth-ranked Anteaters.
The first half was a grind in a clash of styles that pitted the Badgers' physicality against the Anteaters' technical prowess and speed. Wisconsin started slow, allowing a couple of clear scoring chances in the opening minutes, but settled down and gained momentum on their way to a 0-0 halftime score.
Despite decent first half, the Badgers quickly found themselves down 2-0 in the second half following key defensive mistakes. Twice UW fell victim to a lack of concentration, and two own goals were the result. Irvine's sophomore midfielder/forward Enrique Cardenas was credited with both goals.
Facing a two-goal deficit at home against a quality team, the Badgers showed great resiliency in the remaining 40 minutes.
""Going down 2-0 to a team as good as they were, on two own goals, there's nothing more demoralizing,"" head coach John Trask said. ""Usually at that point you feel like it's not your night. That's where the guys showed their heart.""
Just a minute after falling behind 2-0, Wisconsin earned a penalty as a result of a hard challenge in the box by Irvine's senior defender Jonathan Rivas. UW sophomore midfielder/forward Nick Janus confidently put away the penalty to cut the deficit.
The Badgers continued to take the initiative and finally found an equalizer 13 minutes from time. Sophomore forward Chris Prince slotted home from 10 yards following a great service by sophomore midfielder Joey Tennyson and a perfect flick-on over a defender and into the box from junior midfielder Tomislav Zadro.
""I think we had a complete turnaround,"" Prince said after the match. ""We realized that we're at home, we're down two goals and we don't want it to be like this. I thought we took the rest of the game in regulation.""
Sophomore goalkeeper Ciro Martinez made two heroic saves at the end of regulation to preserve the tie and ensure overtime. It wasn't quite enough though, as Irvine played with more urgency and finally found a winner in the 106th minute of play.
Wisconsin had to regroup quickly as it had its first ever meeting with Memphis on Sunday. The Badgers again found themselves fighting from behind though, as they conceded to Memphis' senior defender Thomas Shannon within five minutes. UW found it hard to generate positive attacks for the rest of the half and went into halftime down 1-0.
The Badgers came out with more intent in the second half and finally found an equalizer when Tennyson finished a cross from Zadro in the 65th minute. Wisconsin couldn't hold on for the second time in as many matches, though, and allowed the Tigers to score the winner with 11 minutes to go.
With the two losses, the Badgers fell to 2-3-0 and will need to patch up the defense when they go on the road against Drake and SIU-Edwardsville next weekend.
