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The University of Wisconsin men's soccer team had to wait out a weather delay before playing Virginia Tech on Friday night in Blacksburg, Va.
But it was nothing like the wait Josh Thiermann (Stoughton) ended by ending the match late in the evening.
The senior forward scored from 10 yards out on the left side in the 97th minute to give UW a 1-0 victory over the Hokies at the Hokie Invitational, ending a 10-game winless streak for the Badgers away from home.
It was the first goal for Thiermann in his UW career, which started with a redshirt season last fall, and his first in a competitive college match since scoring for Notre Dame back on Sept. 7, 2008 against South Florida.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ciro Martinez, a transfer from Florida Atlantic, made three saves in his second consecutive shutout for the Badgers (2-0-0). UW also posted clean sheets in both of its exhibition matches, and has allowed just two goals in its past six games dating to last season.
"It was great to see Josh get the game-winner and to have another shutout," UW coach John Trask said in a news release. "Now we have to prepare for a very good team in Virginia on Sunday."
The Cavaliers (2-1-0) have bounced back after losing to West Virginia 1-0 in their opener, crushing Richmond 7-1 and beating Cincinnati 1-0 on Friday in a match called in the 86th minute after a one-hour lightning delay, the second of the game. Virginia is ranked 16th in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.com and 22nd by Soccer America.
Virginia Tech (0-2-0) outshot UW 20-15, but the Badgers put eight of their shots on frame as they won away from the McClimon Complex for the first time since a 2-1 victory over Santa Clara on Sept. 4, 2010 in Trask's first game as UW coach. The Badgers had been 0-8-2 away from Madison since then.
Trask made one change to his starting lineup from last Saturday's 1-0 victory over Western Illinois, with junior Jerry Maddi – a transfer from Eastern Illinois – getting the start in place of sophomore forward Chris Prince.
Prince came off the bench Friday along with sophomore midfielder Paul Yonga, who was the only UW player to start every match last season but missed this year's opener because of a sprained ankle.
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