Badgers host Michigan State in Big Ten action
October 14, 2011 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2011
Badgers return home to host another Big Ten foe
The Badgers (6-4-2, 2-0-0 B1G) return home this weekend to continue Big Ten competition, hosting the Michigan State Spartans (4-6-2, 1-1-1 B1G) Sunday at 2 p.m. at the McClimon Complex.
| Game #13 | Wisconsin (6-4-2) vs. Michigan State (4-6-2) | |
| Date | Sunday, October 16 | 2 p.m. (CT) |
| Location | Madison, Wis. | McClimon Complex |
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All-Time Series
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State: 20-9-4
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State in Madison: 10-4-1
vs. Michigan State
The Badgers have had their share of success in matchups with the Spartans, leading the series 20-9-4. However, in last season's meeting, Wisconsin was shut out, 3-0, in East Lansing. The last time the two teams met in Madison, UW needed extra time to pull off a 2-1 overtime victory against the Spartans.
In the Big Ten
Wisconsin is 83-69-19 all-time in Big Ten games and 48-55-10 since 1991, the year the Big Ten officially recognized men's soccer. Against current Big Ten opponents, UW holds a record of 73-78-20 in all games played. UW's best record is against Northwestern (25-8-4), while it has fared the worst against Indiana (4-32-5).
Last time out
UW recorded its first-ever win over Michigan in Ann Arbor with a 2-1 victory on Sunday, Oct. 9. Junior midfielder Tomislav Zadro put the Badgers up early with a goal in the ninth minute.
Senior Josh Thiermann cushioned the Badgers' lead with a goal just before the half at the 41:40 mark. Thiermann knocked in a header off an assist from Zadro.
In the 61st minute, Michigan's Kofi Opare netted the game's third header and the Wolverines' first goal of the game. On the afternoon, Michigan had 23 shots but Opare's lone conversion was not enough to propel the Wolverines past the Badgers.
Sophomore goalkeeper Max Jentsch recorded four saves, improving his record to 4-1-2.
Scouting Michigan State
Michigan State enters Sunday's game riding a two-game win streak. The Spartans edged their last two opponents by the slimmest of margins, defeating Milwaukee, 2-1, and Penn State, 1-0, in East Lansing. Mark Barone recorded five points for the Spartans in those games, including the game-winner against Penn State.
The veteran MSU team that reached the NCAA Sweet 16 last season graduated eight seniors. The Spartans offset that loss by adding eight newcomers to their roster in the offseason. Still, this season's roster features nine seniors, including the team's top three scorers from last season.
Damon Rensing is in his third season at the helm of Michigan State soccer. Prior to taking the head coaching position, Rensing, a former MSU soccer standout, spent 10 seasons as the assistant coach in East Lansing. In his first two season Rensing took team to the NCAA tournament, while posting a 24-15-4 overall mark.
Who to watch for
Reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Mark Barone will lead the Spartans into Madison on Sunday. The senior center back, whose twin brother Domenic is also on the team, earned the first Big Ten weekly award of his career for his combined five points in Michigan State's last two games. Barone scored his first goal of the season in MSU's matchup with Milwaukee, on Oct. 5, before assisting on the game-winner.
Barone made his presence known all over the field in Michigan State's defeat over Penn State on Sunday. He knocked in the game-winning goal, and helped the Spartan defense shutout the Nittany Lions. College Soccer News also named the center back to their Team of the Week.
B1G streaks
After Sunday's win in Ann Arbor, Wisconsin has now won its first two conference contests for the first time since the 1995 season. That year, UW won four-straight conferences matches on its way to a Big Ten and NCAA title.
More points please
In 12 games played this season, the Badgers have scored 55 points, four more than all of 2011. Ten members of the team have scored a point this season, while Tomislav Zadro leads the team with 15. The junior midfielder has scored at least one point in each of Wisconsin's last 10 games and his 15 points rank second in the Big Ten.
Zadro helps out
Tomislav Zadro's seven assists are tied for second-best in Division I and he is one assist away from earning a spot on the UW single-season record list.
Sunday Success
After recording two losses and one draw in their first three Sunday contests of the season, the Badgers have now won their last three Sunday competitions. UW's most quality Sunday victory came on Oct. 2 when they handed then-No. 6 Indiana its first loss of the season. This past Sunday, Wisconsin continued its success with a 2-1 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Going streaking
The Badgers put together a five-game unbeaten streak from Sept. 16-Oct. 2. On Sept. 16, in Max Jentsch's first start in goal, UW defeated Drake, 3-1. The Badgers then went on to tie SIUE (Sept. 18), defeat Loyola Marymount (Sept. 25), tie Marquette (Sept. 28) and defeat Indiana (Oct. 2). An overtime loss to then-No. 5 Creighton (Oct. 5) ended UW's run.
The streak was UW's longest since the 2008 season, when the Badgers started the season 4-0-1 before falling to Binghamton in the sixth game of the season.
Big Ten accolades
Nick Janus and Max Jentsch earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors after their performance in Wisconsin's win over then-No. 6 Indiana. Janus earned Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Jentsch was named Defensive Player of the Week. Janus scored three points in the game off one assist and one goal. He earned the assist on Tomislav Zadro's game winning goal in the 54th minute, before scoring a goal of his own at the 79th minute. The award marks the first of Janus' career.
Jentsch also earned his first weekly award of the season and second of his career for his shutout performance in the Badgers' win over Indiana. Jentsch blocked a penalty kick from Indiana's Harrison Petts to preserve the shutout. In the two games played last week, Jentsch recorded 11 saves and allowed just one goal. Jentsch is now 3-0-2 in goal on the season.
Junior Kyle McCrudden earned Big Ten Co-Player of the Week honors after his performance against Western Illinois. McCrudden's game-winning goal in the 68th minute was his first game-winner and second career goal at UW. The weekly award was McCrudden's first and UW's first since Chris Prince earned the honor on Oct. 25, 2010.
National accolades
Nick Janus was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week, CS360 Primetime Performers Weekly Honor Roll and selected to Soccer America Men's Team of the Week after leading unranked Wisconsin to a stunning upset over No. 6 Indiana on Oct. 2. Janus earned the assist on the game-winning goal, before adding an insurance goal late in the game. He earned three points in the game and is now fourth on the team with six points.
Network connection
The Badgers' game against Northwestern on Oct. 23 will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.
Welcome to Madison
Wisconsin holds an all-time record of 88-60-15 at the McClimon Complex since 1993. In the inaugural season of action at the McClimon in 1993, the Badgers earned a program-best nine wins. In 1996 Wisconsin recorded a program-best .833 win percentage with a 7-1-1 record. In 2010, UW marked a 3-5-1 record at the McClimon Complex.
Wisconsin opened the 2011 season with a 1-0 win over Western Illinois, before suffering losses to UC Irvine and Memphis at the McClimon Complex. On Sept. 25, UW defeated Loyola Marymount in the first of a four-game homestand at McClimon before tying Marquette on Sept. 28, defeating Indiana on Oct. 2 and losing to Creighton on Oct. 5. The Badgers are 3-3-1 in Madison this season.
Around the league - as of Oct. 13, 2011
Wisconsin claims sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with a perfect 2-0-0 league record. Ohio State is right behind the Badgers with a 2-1-0 conference record and Northwestern has yet to lose in league play, posting a 1-0-1 mark. Michigan State is 1-1-1, Indiana is 1-1-0 and Michigan is 1-2-0. Penn State is still looking for its first league win with a 0-3-0 record.
Indiana leads the league with an overall winning percentage of .667 this season. The Hoosiers, who suffered their first loss at Wisconsin, are 7-3-2 overall and 1-1-0 in conference. Michigan, with one Big Ten win, has the worst overall record, posting a mark of 4-9-1.
Big Ten dribbles ...
Indiana leads the league in points (62) and assists (21), while Ohio State has the most goals (22) ... Michigan leads the league in shots (234) ... Penn State has only allowed eight goals this season, while Michigan has given up 23 ... eight of Penn State's 13 games have been shutouts ... Ohio State has received 24 yellow cards, while Indiana has nine ... Ohio State's Chris Hegngi leads the league with 16 points and eight goals.
B1G openers
On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Badgers won their first Big Ten opener since the 2006 season when they beat Michigan, 2-1, in overtime in Madison. UW is 9-9-2 in Big Ten openers since 1991. The Badgers went 7-0-0 in Big Ten openers from 1991-1997.
NSCAA Coaches Poll - Oct. 11, 2011
Connecticut remains the No. 1 ranked team with an 11-0-1 record. North Carolina jumped two spots to the No. 2 spot, while Maryland fell to third. Creighton moved into the fourth spot and Akron fell from third to fifth. Indiana is the only Big Ten team remaining in this week's poll, falling from 10th to 18th.
Regional rankings
Wisconsin moved up to the sixth spot in the Oct. 11 Great Lakes regional rankings. In the Oct. 4 poll, UW was ranked 10th, while it received votes in the Sept. 27 rankings and was ranked 10th in the Sept. 20 and Sept. 6 polls. Indiana remains ranked above UW at the No. 4 spot, while Ohio State and Penn State dropped below the Badgers.
Badgers in the polls
Following its win over Indiana, Wisconsin earned a No. 25 ranking in the Soccer America Top 25 poll. The Badgers also earned the No. 30 spot on the Tournament 48 rankings by Top Drawer Soccer. The rankings are a running attempt to project the postseason college soccer tournament qualifiers, including every automatic conference berth.
Wednesday workouts
Wisconsin and Marquette played to a double overtime draw in the Badgers' first midweek game of the year on Wednesday, Sept. 28. After falling to Creighton on Wednesday, Oct. 5, UW is 0-1-1 in midweek games this season. Wisconsin has two midweek games remaining on it schedule. The Badgers travel to Green Bay on Wednesday, Oct. 19 and hit the road for a game in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Last season, the Badgers saw three of their four Wednesday games go into overtime, finishing 1-2-0 in in those games. UW ended the 2010 season 2-2-0 in Wednesday games, with all four midweek matchups played in Madison.
Extra time
UW fell to then-No. 5 Creighton on Oct. 5, 2-1 in overtime, marking the fifth time this season that the Badgers have played into extra time. UW is 1-2-2 in overtime action this season, defeating Virginia Tech, 1-0, in the first overtime period, falling to UC Irvine, 3-2, in double overtime, suffering a 2-1 loss to Creighton in overtime and tying SIUE and Marquette.
Last season, nine of the Badgers' games went to overtime, setting a new program record for overtime games in single season. With a scoreless double overtime draw with Ohio State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament, UW wrapped up the season with a 1-5-3 mark when playing extra minutes.
All-Tournament honors
Freshman AJ Cochran sophomore Paul Yonga and Tomislav Zadro were named to the UIC Soccer Classic All-Tournament team. Zadro earned three points with one goal and one assist, while Yonga and Cochran's defensive performance helped the Badgers finish the tournament unbeaten.
Zadro's all-tournament honors at UIC were his second of the season as he, senior Josh Thiermann and sophomore Blake Succa were named to the all-tournament team at the Hilton Garden Hokie Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. Thiermann led Wisconsin with two goals, while Zadro earned his first point of the season with an assist.
Badger captains
Seniors Colin Mani, Arnel Zahirovic and Josh Thiermann are serving as captains for the 2011 season. Thiermann will be making his first appearance on the field for the Badgers after playing three seasons at Notre Dame. Mani has seen action in 38 games for the Badgers, including appearances in 16 games a year ago. Zahirovic appeared in 19 games in 2010 with 18 starts after transferring from Illinois Central College following the 2009 season.
Badgers in season-openers
The Badgers are unbeaten in season-openers since 2007, most recently defeating Western Illinois, 1-0, to begin the 2011 season. Overall, Wisconsin is 21-11-3 in season-opening matches and head coach John Trask is 2-0 in season-openers at Wisconsin.
Rookie class ranked No. 18
The 2011 incoming class earned a No. 18 ranking on the College Soccer News Top 40 Recruiting Class list. The Badgers welcome 13 new faces to the field this fall, including eight freshmen and five transfers. North Carolina received the No. 1 ranking with a 10-member recruiting class, while Indiana's No. 4 ranking was the highest in the Big Ten. Wisconsin's No. 18 ranking was the next highest in the league, with Penn State ranked No. 24, Michigan State No. 31 and Northwestern No. 38 also making the list.
