The Wisconsin men's soccer team has been looking for a lucky break. There have been plenty of scoring chances, but Wisconsin never seemed able to make the most of them.
But on Saturday the Badgers finally got things to turn out in their favor when senior midfielder Eric Conklin scored on a penalty kick that lifted the Badgers over No. 16 Northwestern with a 2-1 overtime win.
Conklin's penalty kick was significant for the Badgers (4-6-2), handing Wisconsin its first win over a ranked team since 2008 and improving the Badgers' overtime record to 2-1-2.
The victory also stands as the Badgers' first win in a true road game out of the six they have had this season and improved the Badgers' Big Ten record to 2-2-0, which gives them multiple conference wins for the first time since 2006.
To begin the scoring, senior midfielder Taylor Waspi buried his second goal of the season to put the Badgers up 1-0 in the 35th minute.
The Wildcats (7-2-4) did not let Waspi's goal go unanswered, as Wildcat junior forward Kevin Valenta got hold of a rebound, and tied the game in the 39th minute.
Conklin's goal came after five minutes of overtime play. Freshman defenseman Danny Ahlering was fouled in the box on an attempted corner kick from the Badgers.
Conklin then fired the ball past Northwestern senior goalkeeper Misha Rosenthal to claim the victory.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jamal Habibi finished with three saves for Wisconsin, his career best, and starter Alex Horwath contributed one save before being taken out because of an injury.
The Badgers' focus is now turned to the next three games, which they will be in Madison.
This week they face in-state rival Marquette on Wednesday and then will take on Big Ten opponent Ohio State on Saturday.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
