The Wisconsin men’s soccer team (0-1 Big Ten, 2-2-3 overall) only made one mistake Friday night, but it resulted in the deciding goal in the Badgers’ 1-0 loss to Penn State (1-0-0, 6-1-1).
Freshman Goalie Chase Rau recorded six saves, but it was not enough as Wisconsin fell in their first Big Ten conference game of this season.
The goal for the Nittany Lions was tapped into the far post by freshman forward Kelton Cheney in the 82 minute, with assists from substitutes senior Hasani Sinclair and freshman Drew Klingenberg.
“It’s unfortunate how the goal went in. Our freshman goalkeeper played an outstanding game,” head coach John Trask said. “It seemed like we might get the win.”
Rau made saves from from all over the 18-yard box, including both free kicks and corner kicks.
“He made a lot of really big saves for us and he communicated well in his first Big Ten game as a freshman,” said sophomore defender AJ Cochran. “As a team we did alright and we sat in a little too far at times, but tonight just wasn’t our night.”
The opposing goalie, senior Emmanuel Martin, only recorded one save in the Nittany Lion shutout.
“For the most part, we did well. We wish we could have put more pressure on them, but they are a pretty good team,” junior defender Paul Yonga said.
Penn State eliminated Wisconsin in last year’s Big Ten semifinal in the same 1-0 fashion. “You never want to lose to a team you lost to last year, but they got our number again,” Trask said.
The Badgers have given up just one goal in the past three games, but have only one win to show for it, finding the back of the net twice against IUPUI last week.
“Going forward, we have to be more creative,” junior midfielder Nick Janus said. “We will have to look for each other more and push up the field more. We have to keep looking for combinations and put it together.”
The Badgers will play next at Marquette Wednesday night. Trask does not want the team to change much of their game plan, just execute what they have been practicing.
“We need to move the ball quicker at times and continue to be stout defensively,” Trask said. “We just need to take our chances when we get them.”
