Following a stretch of tightly contested overtime games and close losses, the Badgers (0-3-0 Big Ten, 2-7-1 overall) were able to get back into the win column with a 1-0 victory over Green Bay (0-1-1 Horizon, 3-4-4).
The win and shutout was the second of the year for Wisconsin, who struggled through a rough September in which they failed to win any of their five matches.
As has been the case throughout the entire season thus far, the freshmen once again led the way for the Badgers. Freshman forwards Mark Segbers and Tom Barlow connected on the lone goal of the night and freshman goalkeeper Adrian Remeniuk capped the shutout with three saves.
“I thought Adrian kept us in the game, which is the job of the goalkeeper,” coach John Trask said. “Compliment to him, because there were a couple of tough situations for him to deal with in the first half and he made the saves and gave us a chance.”
After a few missed opportunities by the Phoenix, the Badgers opened up the scoring in the 22nd minute on Barlow’s third goal of the season.
“It wasn’t the best goal, but you know, it finally rolled our way,” Barlow said. “Mark did a good job, he’s so fast, so he beat a couple guys and he took it inside, and I went to the outside and tried to cut back in, and he slid a nice ball in. I kind of got lucky on the shot, the deflection, so, but I’ll take it.”
Despite going into the half with the 1-0 lead, Wisconsin was outshot through the first 45 minutes eight to two, with the Phoenix controlling most of the play.
“That’s the nature of soccer, you can win a game when you’re not playing well, and I think, at least in the first half, we were winning a game where we were not playing well,” Trask said.
The Badgers picked up their play in the second half, outshooting Green Bay the rest of the way and taking five of the game’s corner kicks in the last 45 minutes.
“I wasn’t pleased with the first half and I told them so in plenty of words. And I thought the guys picked it up, so it’s nice to see they responded to some motivation,” Trask said.
The Phoenix had some chances for the equalizer, but the Badger defense was able to clamp down to preserve the shutout and win.
Wisconsin will return to Big Ten conference play traveling to take on Michigan State Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 1 PM.
