The Indiana men’s soccer team was able to turn a much-needed point on Friday night when IU drew No. 4 Ohio State in Columbus. The Hoosiers will have to turn their focus to another ranked Big Ten team as they travel up to Madison to take on the No. 8 ranked Wisconsin Badgers on Tuesday night.
Indiana has had to face some formidable offenses this season whether it be the Buckeyes who rank sixth in total goals (24), or the Dayton Flyers who have taken the second-most shots per game in the entire nation (19.71), the Hoosiers are becoming no strangers to playing these top opponents.
Introducing the Wisconsin Badgers (6-1-1, 1-1-1 Big Ten).
A hot start and conference challenges
This team came out of the gates scorching hot, scoring 13 goals in their first three matches. They continued that momentum starting the season 5-0 with wins over Marquette, who at the time was receiving votes in the Top 25, and Kentucky who was ranked 16th.
Big Ten play began for the Badgers on Friday, Sept. 13 when they traveled to College Park, Maryland to take on the Terrapins. The Terps were the lone team in the Big Ten to not qualify for the Big Ten Tournament in 2023.
Now, this is not last year's Maryland as the Terrapins would hand Wisconsin their first loss of the season in dominating fashion winning 3-0. For the first time in the season, Wisconsin was bending and it came at the feet of their first Big Ten match.
The Badgers returned home for game two of the conference season where they dismantled newly added UCLA 4-1 in a great response to their first L. UCLA was ranked No. 12 at the time as the Badgers’ impressive resume was building.
Wisconsin would host their final non-conference opponent of the year as NAIA school Viterbo came to Madison, and while the Badgers led 3-0 at half, Hurricane Helene said no more, suspending the game after 45 minutes.
It was back to Big Ten play for Wisconsin as they packed their bags for Seattle, Washington to face the other new face of the conference. For only the second time all season the Badgers would be shut out as the match concluded in a 0-0 draw. Both times Wisconsin has been shutout have come during conference play.
Scouting report: Standout scorers and a stout defense
There are a few key things that stick out from the Badgers, who are out to their best start since the 2017 season when they won the Big Ten Tournament.
This team can clearly score and that has come from the two-headed monster of Dean Boltz and Trip Fleming. Boltz and Fleming are one and two in the Big Ten in both goals and total points so far this season.
Boltz is the clear favorite so far for Big Ten Player of the Year as his eight goals and three assists have absolutely propelled this Badgers team so far. It is important to note that Boltz scored seven of his eight goals in the first four matches of the season. This included a hat trick against Marist, and a two goal outing against University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).
That is by no means saying that he is not a threat as he has more than proven that so far. However, once the competition ramped up Boltz has bagged one goal in the four toughest matches of the year.
As for Fleming, he is in a similar position as a hat trick against UIC provided three of his five goals so far. Fleming’s best performance was arguably against UCLA as he had a goal and an assist considering the magnitude of the opponent.
Lastly, this defense does not allow many goals. Outside of the Maryland match in which they lost 3-0, Wisconsin has only given up three other goals on the year. Two of which came from the 5-1 win over UIC and the 4-1 win over UCLA.
This team has not had to face a lot of shots due to their stout defense as teams are only ripping around 8.4 shots per game this year. Offensively, Wisconsin has been incredibly efficient as they only take around 12 shots per game, yet have an on target percentage of 49%.
Indiana was outshot by Ohio State 21-9 on Friday and still came away with a 2-2 draw. This cannot be the case against Wisconsin as the Badgers have proven they can bag their chances when given.
The Hoosiers will need to be comfortable taking deeper shots as well considering Wisconsin allows such a low rate of shots on their keeper.
Overall, this is a pivotal match for the Hoosiers who are looking for their first win since Sept. 13 which was three matches ago. Indiana has proven it has the talent to put some goals away, so it will be a matter of all three phases to be able to compete with another top-10 opponent.
