Coming off of a 0-0 tie and a 1-0 win against Western Illinois and IUPUI respectively at the University of Illinois-Chicago Soccer Classic this past weekend, the University of Wisconsin men’s soccer team (2-2-3 overall) looks to continue its winning ways on Friday as it takes on Big Ten foe Penn State (5-1-1 overall) at the McClimon Soccer Complex in the first conference game of the season for both squads.
“We had two great games with them last year,” head coach John Trask said. “We think it’s going to be a great game, a great way to kick off the Big Ten season.”
Despite allowing 10 goals through its first four games, Wisconsin’s defense, led by recent Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week, freshman goalkeeper Chase Rau, has been much improved as of late, having not allowed a goal in the last 222 minutes of play, dating back to September 9th against Georgetown.
“We’ve been communicating more. The defense has matured and decided as a group to get our stuff together,” Rau said of the defensive improvements. “We decided that we were getting scored on way too much.”
However, the Badgers will face a tough test against Penn State, who is coming off a weekend sweep of Albany and Adelphi, 1-0 and 3-0, respectively. Offensively, the Nittany Lions have been dominant thus far, placing themselves second in the Big Ten in points (36), goals (12) and assists (12) and are led by senior forward Julian Cardona, who has recorded 11 points and five goals.
“They have some very formidable attackers. I think they have had seven games and scored 20 goals so obviously they know something about scoring goals,” Trask said. “Our task will be can we shut down their attacking options and give ourselves a good chance to win the game.”
Penn State has been more impressive on defense, leading the Big Ten in shots on goal allowed (17), and are anchored by senior goalkeeper Emmanuel Martin, who has given up an average of 0.87 goals in his five starts.
As league play begins for both teams, it will be key to get off to a fast start for early positioning in the conference standings, and Trask echoed that.
“You only have six conference games, three at home and three away, and every game in the Big Ten is a mighty challenge whether you’re home or away,” Trask said. “If you want to be successful in the league, you’ve got to win games and tomorrow is an opportunity for us to win a soccer game, and that’s how we’re going to approach it.”
