The Wisconsin men's soccer team (0-2 Big Ten, 3-6-3 overall) suffered another shutout loss Wednesday night at the hands of the Milwaukee Panthers 1-0. It was a free kick in the 50th minute that lead to a scrum in front of the Badger goal and the ball was hit in by Panthers' senior midfielder Jamie Bladen. Wisconsin falls to 15-16-6 in the instate rivalry against Milwaukee.
Although the Badgers were held without a goal for the fourth time this season, there was still some improvement offensively. "They were pretty creative, the final touch just wasn't there tonight," head coach John Trask said. "I thought the movement was excellent in the final third, a couple of combinations and quality services, but it just wasn't meant to be."
Wisconsin out shot Milwaukee 13 to seven, and 10 to three in the second half alone. "Tonight was a little unlucky, but things have really started to come together," said freshman midfielder Drew Conner. "I think if we continue to work hard and work on things in practice we'll be where we want to be."
"We are not playing to the best of our abilities right now," said freshman midfielder Anders Kristensen. "I think we had some great moments in the game, but we still need to work and fight for each other."
The Badger defense provided another solid performance, allowing just three shots on goal in a physical game in which 28 fouls were called. "We are trying to work on keeping our line up and staying compact," junior midfielder Paul Yonga said. "We gave up a set piece goal which is a big focus for us so that was disappointing, but overall I think we did alright."
Wisconsin also started junior goalkeeper Max Jentsch in favor of freshman Chase Rau. Jentsch had two saves including a fingertip save over the top of the net on a low cross to keep the game tied 0-0 in the first half.
Moving forward, the team would like to see momentum pick up. "We just want to get a good winning streak going and be more consistent game in and game out," said Conner. "We want to get that winning culture going, now is that time of the season and its crunch time, we have to start winning."
"We have to work on the little things and get those fixed," said Yonga. "We have potential, we just have to stay focused." The team has six more games before the start of the Big Ten tournament on Nov. 7-11 in Evanston, Illinois.
The Michigan Wolverines (1-1-1, 4-5-1) are next on the slate for the Badgers, as the will head to Madison to play the Badgers on Saturday night.
