The UW men's soccer team competed physically in the battle of the \Wisconsins"" and against the cold weather. The Badgers went head-to-head against their in-state rival, UW-Milwaukee. Wisconsin entered the game with a 7-5 record, searching for their eighth win against No. 11 Milwaukee Panthers. The Badgers and UW-Milwaukee Panthers fought to the end of regulation to tie at zero. The scoreboard finally saw some action after an overtime goal by the Panthers.
Captain senior forward Valentine Anozie felt unhappy with the team's offensive performance,
""We didn't make the passes when we're supposed to, didn't score goals when we're supposed to; miss the key chances and eventually you're going to lose, and that's what happened tonight."" Anozie said
The Badgers offense failed to make the Milwaukee defense work for their win. The team only had one shot on goal for Panther senior goalie Chris Dadaian to block; the shot came from senior defenseman Aymar Sinaise in the last minute of the first half. Milwaukee dominated the rest of the game, as Wisconsin failed to take advantage of several opportunities provided by junior forward Dave Martinez and a few other players.
UW Head Coach Jeff Rohrman agreed with Anozie, ""I thought in the second half we struggled in trying to get control of the game. Our midfielders let us down in having the ability to get the ball into open space.""
On the other end of the ball however, Wisconsin performed well at keeping Milwaukee's offense from putting the ball into the net. Junior goalie Eric Hanson helped keep his team in the game by making spectacular saves and jumping high to grab the ball on several of Milwaukee's corner kicks. The Panther pressure finally overwhelmed Hanson, however, when a shot from Milwaukee's senior defenseman Chad Dombrowski deflected to sophomore forward Antou Jallow, who put it between several defenders and a diving Hanson three minutes into the overtime period.
Hanson claimed the cold was not a factor for him, ""No, I was into the game, I wasn't cold at all.""
Rohrman felt that Hanson's play provided enough opportunity for the Badgers to take advantage,
""He obviously met the challenge, I thought he did well coming off his line and his decisions were quite well. He stepped up to everything they had to offer.""
Several Milwaukee fans made the hour and a half trip along with the team to help fight against the Badgers and the weather. The many fans made their voices heard at the beginning of the game, though after several beautiful blocks by Hanson the Badger crowd overcame the Milwaukee fans. Yet sadly the Panthers had reasons to cheer with 7:02 left in the overtime period.
The Panthers ten game-winning streak now leaves the team with a 10-1-1 record. Wisconsin will attempt to come back this Homecoming weekend with two home games, against Dartmouth on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Michigan on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
