Following a fast-paced and physical game against Drake University that resulted in a victory Tuesday, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team (0-1-0 Big Ten, 7-2-1 overall) is already looking forward to their next game, a conference matchup against reigning NCAA champions Indiana University (1-1-0, 4-6-1) Friday at home.
The team isn’t letting Indiana’s NCAA title intimidate them, they’re just looking to leave McClimon Friday night with a win, which would be their first conference win this season.
“Every team we’ve beaten has meant a lot. Indiana is just another team. They’re a good team, but they’re another team that we want to beat,” said senior forward Nick Janus. “We’re 4-0-0 at home and we want to stay that way.”
To add to the excitement, the two teams have a very intertwined history. Indiana’s coach Todd Yeagley coached at Wisconsin briefly in 2008 and 2009 and recruited many of this year’s seniors, while Wisconsin head coach John Trask has a history of both playing and coaching at Indiana. According to Trask, “there’s a lot of subplots to this game.”
Coming away with a win Friday will be no small task but first, the team needs to recover from Tuesday’s match against Drake.
“We had a very demanding game against a very good Drake team and they’re trying to get their legs back under them,” Trask said. “Hopefully we’re fit enough, strong enough and ready to perform on Friday.”
According to senior captain and defender Paul Yonga, the team can definitely learn from their performance in the last two games against Drake this week and their 1-0 victory against Marquette last Thursday.
“We’ve come out strong and aggressive so enforcing our will on Indiana will be a big deal for us,” he said. “Mentally we just have to come out hard, they’re a very athletic team so I think just preparing ourselves for that is a big thing.”
Trask applauded the team’s performance in both highly contested matchups.
“Both games I thought we put much better total performances in,” Trask said, “The teams that are going to be around at the end find ways to win games like that and we found a way to win the two.”
All eyes will be on the Badger defense Friday, with a notoriously strong Indiana midfield and attackers putting up a significant fight for the Badger’s back line.
“They’re just a very strong attacking group,” Trask said. “They’re very technical, extremely good athletically. It will be by far the toughest challenge for our defensive group and the team defending. It’ll come down to a few plays.”
“I think we just have to stay sound in the back and we’ll pick our moments to go forward and play the way we have in the past couple games,” Yonga said.
There will no doubt be plenty of attention on Janus, who scored his sixth goal of the season against Drake. However, the team’s leader in goals is more focused on taking defensive strategies from the last two games and playing as a unit.
“We played as a team just collectively, just together. We’re going to need that, we’re going to have to be one team to beat Indiana,” he said.
According to Trask, being at home for this major matchup adds to the importance of the game.
“The guys love to be at home. It’s hard to win on the road,” he said. “Fortunately we’ve had a pretty good road record this year, add to that our outstanding home record, hopefully we can just keep building on it.”
