The Wisconsin men's soccer team (1-3 Big Ten, 9-8 overall) took out their second non-conference foe in eight days as they defeated the DePaul Blue Demons (7-8, 3-2 Conference USA) by a score of 2-1 at home last night. The win put the Badgers over .500 for the fourth time this year and also snapped a 3-game winning streak for the Blue Demons.
Junior forward Jed Hohlbein had both goals for the Badgers while DePaul sophomore forward Edwin Arreola had the lone tally for the Demons. Sophomore defenseman Alec Neal, freshman midfielder Aaron Witchger and freshman defenseman Hamid Afsari all scored assists for Wisconsin. The assist was the first career point as a Badger for Afsari.
The scoring started in the first half when Witchger took a free kick off of a foul. He found Hohlbein in the middle of the box who then knocked a header past DePaul senior goalkeeper Jeff Klitzke, at 25:48 for the first goal of the game. The goal stopped a 334-minute shutout streak for the DePaul, a span of nearly four games.
\Aaron Witchger played a great ball in,"" Hohlbein said. ""I beat my man to the near post and got a piece of it with my head and the goalie was coming out, so it made it over his head and into the net.""
The Blue Demons wasted little time in getting back in the game. Less than a minute after the UW goal, freshman defenseman Aaron Hohlbein slipped while playing a DePaul pass. The fall left Arreola on a breakaway, where he flipped a soft shot over Badger senior goalie Eric Hanson to tie the game 1-1 at the 26:46 mark. The score would stay the same going into halftime.
""I thought we played a very sluggish first half,"" Badgers Head Coach Jeff Rohrman said. ""Our movement wasn't as crisp and sharp as it needed to be, our concentration wasn't where it needed to be, and as a result we just weren't putting many things together.""
Just as Coach Rohrman had hoped, the Badgers came out much more fired up in the second half. The result came at the 52:27 mark when Jed Hohlbein fought in the air for a header from Afarsi. The header just snuck past Klitzke, who was too far out of position to make the stop, for Hohlbein's second goal of the day.
""I just beat my man to the ball again,"" Hohlbein said. ""I didn't exactly get a great header on it, but it ended up going in, so I was pretty fortunate on that one.""
After a few careless defensive giveaways in the first half, the defense really solidified in the second half for the Badgers. Hanson was only required to make one save in the second half as DePaul was held scoreless for the final 63:14.
""We played a different formation in the first half, three defenders instead of four, and I think guys were still trying to figure out what was going on,"" Hanson said. ""We switched back in the second half and I think it was a lot better.""
""I thought in the second half we came out with a little more urgency,"" Rohrman said, ""and as a result we looked like a far different team in the second half.""
The Badgers return to Big Ten action this Sunday when they take on the Michigan State Spartans at home.
