Bright future ahead for Badgers

BY KELLI GRASHEL
UW Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wis. — The highest of highs was met with the lowest of lows for the men's soccer team. After advancing to the Big Ten Tournament championship for the first time in more than 20 years, this season's Badgers (11-4-4 overall) did not earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.

"The expectation was there from the whole coaching staff, and I think the players knew that it would be a successful season," head coach John Trask said. "Making it to the Big Ten championship for the first time in 21 years for the men's soccer program was great because it's tournament action. I think we learned a lot of great lessons and hopefully that will translate into an even better performance for next year."

As heartbreaking as that result was, it's not the story of the season. It's not even close.

"While disappointing, at the end of the day, the committee has a tough job," Trask added. "There were a couple of barometers that they look at. One was our RPI wasn't as high as you'd thought it would be ending 11-4-4. Also not having that one big win. We had some chances, we played some great teams and great games against some excellent college soccer teams, but we didn't find a way to get over the threshold."

The story has many parts and it's a story worth looking back on.

It all started in the preseason. That's when everyone could see it, this team had potential and they hadn't even tapped into the best of it yet. The Badgers defeated No. 7 Creighton in an impressive 3-1 triumph in their preseason finale.

UW opened the season with a 1-0 upending of Santa Clara at home, but had a rough road trip to Florida where it lost to FIU, 1-0, and tied FAU, 1-1. The remainder of the season, however, saw the Badgers on an upward swing.

A double overtime win over Michigan gave the team confidence heading into a tough road contest at Northwestern where the Badgers came out victorious, 2-1. However, Wisconsin was met with yet another heartbreaking loss, a double overtime setback to Penn State, 2-1.

That would be their last loss for nearly a month, picking up four wins and one tie until they lost to No. 1 Maryland on the road on Oct. 14. In a span of 12 days, the Badgers faced three ranked opponents and tied two of the three.

Prior to facing the top-ranked Terrapins, the Badgers battled through further challenges as the team played without their captain and a core member of their backline, Sam Brotherton. The Auckland, New Zealand, native was called up to compete with his national team, forcing him to miss three games just after he garnered the program's first-ever NSCAA National Player of the Week award.

The captain returned for easily the most exciting game of the year and UW built a one-goal lead on the road against the Terrapins. Maryland tied up the match after an iffy call by the officials led to a corner kick and the Terrapins claimed the win in overtime. As tough as that outcome was, it was the motivating factor that led Wisconsin to an undefeated record throughout the rest of the regular season.

Wisconsin hosted and easily handled Ohio State with a 3-0 blanking in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

And then it happened. A 1-1 draw with fourth-ranked Indiana in the Big Ten tournament semifinals led to penalty kicks to determine who would be moving on. Both teams missed their first shots but junior Tom Barlow put the Badgers back on track. After collecting a season-high seven saves, junior goalkeeper Philipp Schilling came in and took the third penalty kick, the Badgers' best kick. Senior Matej Radonic had his shining moment and notched the second-to-last score for UW. Christopher Mueller then sealed the match and sent the Badgers to their first Big Ten Tournament championship game since 1995 with his successful penalty kick against Indiana.

No. 18 Wisconsin saw its season come to an end in the Big Ten final losing 2-1 to Maryland. The Badgers finished runner-up in the Big Ten tournament after already finishing runner-up in the regular season.

Six players earned their way onto All-Big Ten teams. Christopher Mueller was named first-team All-Big Ten and Sam Brotherton, Mike Catalano and Mark Segbers each were placed on the second team. Elan Koenig and Noah Leibold were both put on the
All-Freshman team. Most significant? All six are back next season along with all-star goalkeeper Philipp Schilling, who led the conference in goals-against average, and Tom Barlow, an offensive firework for UW.

"No question, they'll take this into next year," Trask concluded. "Sometimes when you're excluded from a tournament the way we were, I know the guys felt like we deserved to be in, it becomes a motivating factor. They can probably speak to it better than us coaches can. We're disappointed but we'll be focused as we always are.

"The neat thing about soccer is that it really is a player's game. Hopefully this motivation will drive them to new heights. We don't feel like we've peaked at all with this group. We feel there's a lot more growth potential across the board and we're excited about the future."

Bright future ahead for Badgers

Players Mentioned

Tom Barlow

Sam Brotherton

Mike Catalano

Elan Koenig

Noah Leibold

Chris Mueller

Matej Radonic

Philipp Schilling

Mark Segbers

University of Wisconsin Athletics