Postseason play has begun in the Big Ten conference, and the Wisconsin men’s soccer team was well prepared for its start. The Badgers beat the tournament host Michigan in Ann Arbor, 2-0 on Wednesday to move to the second round of the Big Ten Tournament where they will take on Penn State, who won their first Big Ten game this season in an upset over second seeded Ohio State.
Wisconsin came out in the first half like a team with a purpose. It was clear they had talked about getting more shots off, and they were striking from almost the opening whistle. Not only did the Badgers get five shots before the Wolverines could get even one, but they pressured the Michigan defense with free kicks off of four fouls by UM, as well as two corner kicks.
A multitude of different players took shots, not just junior midfielder Tomislav Zadro, who is used to taking most of the Badgers’ shots. Instead, the Wolverines bottled Zadro and let the Badgers try to get shots from elsewhere. That they did. The sophomore class shined as forwards Nick Janus and Joey Tennyson, as well as midfielder Chris Prince, each had tries at the goal. Fifth year senior Josh Thiermann, added two shots off his own and Janus added two. It wasn’t until the last two minutes of the first half that Zadro was able to manage two shots of his own, which were blocked and missed high, respectively, bringing the final first half shot tally to eight for the Badgers compared to Michigan’s two.
The Badgers played with aggression in the first half, relentless on their defensive pursuit. Wisconsin committed 10 first-half fouls, luckily conceding just those two shots, both off fouls.
The second half started much like the first with Wisconsin refusing to be deterred. Tennyson had three early second-half shots and the Badgers recorded a total of nine second half shots, bringing their game total to seventeen. Seventeen shots proved to be enough, as the Badgers scored two late goals, coming in the 84th and 88th minute by Janus and Thiermann, respectively.
The first goal came after Zadro had a long cross into the box, but Janus did the rest from there, bending the ball into the left corner of the net. The second goal came on a Thiermann shot that Michigan goalkeeper Adam Grinwis missed. That goal put the game away for good.
The Badgers are playing well at this point, and their next game will be a rematch of the last of their final regular season, which they won in State College, Penn.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
