MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's soccer continued its Big Ten campaign on Wednesday night at the McClimon Soccer Complex against Northwestern and UW wasn't a team to mess with, upending the Wildcats, 3-1.
 
It didn't take long for the Badgers to get up to full speed.
 
In the third minute of play, sophomore Robin Olofsson scored a rocket from the top of the box off a beautiful roller from senior Tom Barlow.
 
A mere three minutes later, Barlow found himself a part of another scoring play for the Badgers – this time taking the cake for himself. The senior placed a bender neatly into the right corner of the Wildcat goal, making the Wisconsin deficit 2-0.
 
Wisconsin's lead was extended even further after Northwestern knocked in a ball placed by senior Enda O'Neil in the 20th minute.
 
The level of play evened for the rest of the half until Northwestern finally cracked the lid off the Badger net, making the game 3-1 off the effort from Northwestern's Emmett Gordon.
 
Shots were level at seven a piece in the first half of play. The Cardinal and White were also tied at three with Northwestern in corner kicks.
 
As the first half brought on a plethora of scoring chances, the second half stagnated in that respect.
 
Wisconsin recorded four shots compared to Northwestern's five. Corners were 4-1 attesting to Wisconsin's control in the second half.
 
Up Next
The Badgers continue their home stand on Saturday when they take on Loyola University Chicago at 7 p.m. (CT) at the McClimon Soccer Complex. Saturday will be the PAC the MAC doubleheader, with the women's soccer team playing at 4 p.m.
 
Straight from the pitch:
Senior Tom Barlow:
On the first Big Ten win of the year:
"It's massive for us, and a huge confidence boost. Obviously last weekend was a bit of a rough game for us so definitely getting a win in the Big Ten is huge. Especially going forward, against a good Northwestern team.
 
On getting off to a hot start:
"We talked about it before the game, just kind of putting our foot down and dictating the game early. I thought we came out and had some good momentum, scored a couple goals and felt pretty good. I think after that we kind of slacked off which wasn't so good because they punished us and made it a tougher game than we would've liked.
 
On the team feeling after this win:
"The feeling is good. Any win in the Big Ten is huge so for our confidence it's massive. We've got another tough game this weekend so we're focused on that now. Looking forward to that but definitely the team is feeling good after tonight. Hopefully we keep going into the weekend."
 
On where he thinks the team is clicking:
"We definitely still have to work on everything but I think right now at different moments we're doing a good job at keeping the ball in and picking our moments to attack and doing a better job of connecting passes in the final third to create some good chances. I think early tonight we did a pretty good job at that. "
 
Sophomore Robin Olofsson:
On his first career goal at UW in front of home crowd:
"It feels great. Good crowd. A lot of people coming out, they did a good job in marketing. It feels good."
 
On the first Big Ten win:
"This is really important. You need to take every game at a time, three points is huge."
 
On the mentality of team at home then going back on the road:
"Home games are our thing. We're unbeaten at home for, I think, 12 games maybe. We'll keep this mentality going, play at home and do our thing."