Wisconsin hung in to the bitter end, but ultimately couldn’t generate enough offense to keep its hopes of a Big Ten tournament alive.
The Badgers (2-3-3 Big Ten, 5-11-3 overall) fought hard until the end, both in the game and in their season, but it was ultimately not enough as they fell 1-0 to Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, bringing the 2015 season to an end for UW.
The two sides met just over a week before, a match that the Hoosiers (4-3-1, 12-4-2) also won by a 1-0 margin. Wisconsin failed to generate much offense in that tilt, and the rematch ended up being similarly played to last week’s game between these two teams.
Senior forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen grabbed his team-leading eighth goal of the season, beating UW sophomore goalie Adrian Remeniuk on a tough angle from about 10 yards out in the 22nd minute to provide what ended up being the game’s only scoring.
Indiana kept attacking after the goal and dominated play in the first half, launching 15 shots—five on net—to just three by the Badgers. Play stalled a bit to open the second half with not many opportunities from either side. With time winding down though, Wisconsin found itself in a difficult position playing a man down after receiving a red card in the 78th minute.
Despite the disadvantage, the Badgers had a few chances late, but squandered a pair of corner kicks and had a free kick saved just over the crossbar with only two minutes remaining, as they were unable to get the equalizer and send te match to extra time.
“Even with 12 minutes left in the game and us down a man after an unfortunate red card, we were still finding enough,” UW head coach John Trask said of the final minutes. “While we were unable to come up with a goal against a very stingy defense, I was proud of the effort from our guys today.”
After a disappointing year in 2014, the Badgers once again got off to a slow start to their season, losing their first four contests, but proved to be a tough out the rest of the way in finishing the year 3-3-2. With a young squad, Trask was pleased to see the development and resilience of the team.
“I told the guys after the game that it would have been very easy to bail on this season, but they decided to turn it around,” Trask said. “This became a team that may not have won every game, but became a very difficult opponent for anyone. There’s a lot of positive things taking place within this group. We look forward to getting back to work and continuing to mature this group.”
Indiana also got off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season, but has since gone 9-1-1 and will advance to the conference semifinals to take on Maryland Friday. The Badgers’ season will draw to a close, but the team’s five wins mark a step in the right direction after last year’s three-win campaign.
