ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Wisconsin (1-1-2) fell 2-1 in its Big Ten opener against Michigan (4-0-1) on Friday night at the U-M Soccer Complex.
In the 85th minute, captain goalkeeperÂ
Philipp Schilling was the unlikely offensive hero and found the net from 65 yards out. It was his first goal of the season and career.
Michigan didn't waste any time jumping out to a 1-0 lead over the Badgers. The Wolverines found the back of the net in the sixth minute off a header from Ivo Cerda.
The Wolverines struck gold again in the 37th minute. Michigan's Marc Ybarra notched the second goal of the game off a developing header and increased the Wolverines' lead.
The remainder of the first half and start of the second brought some chippy back-and-forth play from both teams.
It wasn't until the 70th minute that the Badgers' leg work started paying off. The Badgers tallied three shots on net thanks to efforts from junior
Isaac Schlenker and seniors
Tom Barlow and
Mark Segbers.
Michigan shut the Badgers out for the final five minutes of regulation time despite some great last-minute efforts from the Cardinal and White.
Wisconsin led shots 11-8 over the Maize and Blue but struggled to put the shots on frame as Michigan led that category, 5-3.
Straight from the Pitch:
Head Coach John Trask
"The bottom line is we went down two goals in the first half and fought back to make it 2-1. When you go down like that in the Big Ten, you're probably not going to be successful.
"We made some hard runs and his kick bounced over the goalie's head on a goalie error. We thought there may be another goal in there. There was an offside goal we had called back. You know, they did a great job of making it difficult on Chris (Mueller). It was a very physical game but that's typical of a Big Ten matchup. Now there's no time to rest on this one. We have a team that is going to be a very tough challenge on Wednesday night on the Big Ten network. We'll be back in Madison tomorrow preparing for Northwestern.
"We just have to get back out there. We have to get the guys refreshed and back in Madison. A home game in the Big Ten is very important. We dropped one tonight and now it's going to be a heck of a battle on Wednesday."
Up next: Wisconsin returns home on Wednesday to the McClimon Soccer Complex for another Big Ten matchup against the Northwestern Wildcats. The opening kick is set for 8:30 p.m. (CT) and the game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
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