The Wisconsin Badgers men’s soccer team defeated Bradley 4-1 Aug. 24 at McClimon Soccer Complex, recovering from their home opener loss against North Florida.
Coach Neil Jones avenged the loss by making a few changes to Wisconsin’s lineup, with freshman Caleb Capone and junior forward Markie Hrvojevic receiving starting nods
Unlike the North Florida game, this game intensified fast. In the 12th minute, Bradley goalkeeper Drew Berry made a big save, stopping Wisconsin’s Hrvojevic from opening the score on his first start of the season.
Not long after this crucial save, Berry made a big mistake and took too big of a touch on a pass back from his teammate. Wisconsin forward Thomas Raimbault wasn’t far from the goalkeeper and took advantage. Raimbault intercepted the ball and passed it to his teammate Bart Muns, who just had to tap in the goal into an empty net.
This was Muns’, a graduate student from the Netherlands, first goal of the year.
The rest of the first half finished sloppy, as both teams struggled offensively, an indication of early chemistry weakness.
However, with eight minutes to go in the half Ola Arntsen broke the monotonous rhythm by delivering a tremendous strike 35 yards away from the Bradley goal. This shot deceived the Bradley goalkeeper with a bounce right before landing in the bottom left corner, giving Wisconsin a 2-0 lead into halftime.
Arntsen’s goal supplied further evidence that he and fellow midfielder Matthew Zachemski have the potential to be one of the best duos in the Big Ten. Zachemsky is better on the ball thanks to his technical abilities, while Arntsen wins scrappy duels that are needed in the midfield.
Not much action occurred early in the second half for either team, as both struggled to create chances on offense. The pass triangle patterns and technical dominance displayed by Wisconsin in the first half did not translate to the second.
But in the 73rd minute, Wisconsin added to their lead on a penalty kick goal from Zachemski. Upon video review, a foul was called on Bradley from inside the box. The former Big-Ten all freshman team honoree converted the penalty on a crossed shot, making it 3-0.
With Zachemski being called to take the shot, he may be the designated penalty taker for this season Jones.
Not long after Zachemski’s penalty kick, after some muddle in the Wisconsin box, a Bradley player shot the ball which was then deflected by the Wisconsin defenders hand. The referee blew his whistle and pointed at the penalty mark.
The penalty was converted by Kevin Mejias and Wisconsin goalkeeper Matisse Hebert was not able to get his hands on it. There were four minutes left in the game which gave Bradley a slim window of hope to make a comeback.
Desperate to score goals, Bradley was putting more and more pressure on the Wisconsin goal, forcing Wisconsin players to camp in their own half. Bradley took risks and left their defense exposed, and in the 87th minute as Wisconsin kicked the ball away from their goal in despair Bradley’s Amari Fowlkes was alone in his half of the field. Fowlkes messed up his touch and exactly like they did on the first goal, the Badgers took advantage of it.
Bart Muns pickpocketed the ball and was through one on one with Bradley’s goalkeeper and buried the goal in the back of the net with a calm finish. Muns offered himself a brace and with the final score of 4-1, concluded a great afternoon for Wisconsin soccer.
