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 After being shut out in back-to-back matches, the University of Wisconsin men's soccer team got goals from new and old sources in a key victory Wednesday night.
Sophomore midfielder Blake Succa scored his first collegiate goal on a 23-yard strike in the 25th minute and junior midfielder Tomislav Zadro added his team-best fifth of the season nine minutes later as the Badgers blanked UW-Milwaukee 2-0 in a non-conference match at Engelmann Stadium. (Video highlights below)
"Great result tonight," UW coach John Trask said in a news release. "I thought we looked dangerous going forward."
Sophomore goalkeeper Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) made three saves in his third shutout of the season for the Badgers (8-6-2), who finished 1-1-1 against their state rivals this season. UW improved to 6-1-2 in its past nine matches against the Panthers and evened the teams' all-time series at 15-15-6.
"It was one of those games where neither team had many great chances, but we made a couple of mistakes in the first half and were punished for them," said UWM coach Chris Whalley, whose team is winless in its past six games (0-4-2).
The Badgers worked the ball on the right side of the field before sophomore Nick Janus played it centrally to Succa, who got around his mark, found himself with some space and let loose with a shot that beat Panthers junior keeper John Shakon inside the left post.
Less than 10 minutes later, UW midfielder David Caban (Kenosha Tremper) played a ball back to fellow freshman AJ Cochran and the center back instantly played in Zadro on the left side. Zadro beat his mark to the ball and chipped a shot over the onrushing and sliding Shakon to double the lead.
Both teams had prime scoring opportunities in the second half, but the score remained the same.
Jentsch made a diving save at the post to tip away a long-range drive by Panthers senior Keegan Ziada in the 63rd; Zadro nearly made it 3-0 in the 78th only to see his shot hit the left post and UWM senior forward Robert Refai sent his shot wide in the 79th with Jentsch well off his line.
"I don't think you can say we didn't have any chances tonight – we created some decent chances," Whalley said. "We just need to be more ruthless in front of the goal. We turned the ball over too much and because of that we were defending too much."
The Panthers (5-8-2) return to Horizon League action Saturday night against Loyola (Ill.), looking to solidify their position for the conference tournament. The Badgers, meanwhile, play host to Ohio State on Sunday afternoon – UW and the Buckeyes are tied for second in the Big Ten Conference, one point behind leader Northwestern with two matches remaining.
"I am looking forward to a great match-up against Ohio State," Trask said.
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