Peter Sanger, a senior on the 2010 Milwaukee men's soccer team, will be blogging all season long on the UWM website. Today is his seventh blog entry.
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Our second week of Horizon League play brought the dreaded bus rides from Milwaukee to Detroit, Detroit to Cleveland and then from Cleveland back to Milwaukee. They were two winnable conference games to elevate our status in the league. Following our loss to Butler, we talked about needing to cut out needless mistakes in the back and provide more clinical finishing up front. Training was pretty good throughout the week and we left Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon feeling confident about our chances of collecting six points from the weekend.
If you’ve never been to Detroit, let me save you the trip and let you know right now it’s nothing to write home about. Hit hard by the recession, there were tons of empty buildings without businesses to fill them. At one point Rosie counted a liquor store on 10 straight blocks. Going into the match we knew Detroit was a hard working team who looked to make up for a lack of talent with an abundance of fight. The game started flat from both teams and another costly mistake in the back saw us head into half time 1-0 down.
The coaching staff obviously wasn’t pleased and we headed into the second half with 45 minutes to rescue the game. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes into the second half we found ourselves down 2-0 and in a bit of disbelief. Finally, the fight kicked in and we started playing like the team we are. We pulled a goal back via Tony Maxey’s fine header off of a nicely struck free kick from Ross. However, it was too little too late. We couldn’t find an equalizer despite a couple of great chances and could only blame ourselves when the final whistle blew.
The type of urgency we showed towards the end of the game is the type of energy we need to bring at the beginning of the games, not just when falling behind a goal or two. The only positive was that we knew we had another game just two days later to make amends for such a poor showing. We hopped on the bus and headed to Cleveland.
Saturday was spent recovering and focusing on what we needed to do better. A pool workout in the morning was followed by some tactics talk in the meeting room of the hotel. We didn’t focus too much on what Cleveland State would be bringing on Sunday, because we knew that as long as we do what we do well, the rest would take care of itself.
Following dinner that night, we went as a team to see the film The Social Network. Being an admittedly avid facebook user myself, it was a pretty interesting movie and a good alternative to spending the night sitting in our hotel rooms watching bad television.
On Sunday we packed up all of our stuff and got on the bus for our game against CSU. A much better start by us had CSU on the defensive from the beginning. We spent almost the entire first half in their end and it felt like it was only a matter of time before we scored. The Vikings provided a couple of scares on some counter attacks, but we were definitely in the driver’s seat. The second half was more of the same.
I remember specifically a 15-minute period, or so, where it’s hard to remember our opponents possessing the ball at all. Yet we still couldn’t find a goal, so we headed back towards our respective benches after 90 minutes squared at 0-0. In the first period of overtime, Andrew turned his defender nicely and got down the end line, pulling back the ball to Jordan Record, only for him to send his shot just high. We believed, though, and went into the second overtime just as confident about scoring the game-winning goal.
Finally we reaped our reward for our dominance in the game when Ross chipped a ball across the box to me and I squared it for Rexy (Jordan Record) to tap-in for the victory. Knowing that we ended their 17 game home-unbeaten streak made it all that much sweeter. Although we only came away with three of the six possible points for the weekend, it was a good way to end the weekend and definitely made the long ride home more bearable.
Sitting at 3-5-2 (2-2-0 in conference) might not be what we were aiming for, but if you consider that we have yet to play a real home game this season, it’s not all bad. We’ve already equaled our wins total from last season, so now it’s all about continuing to show how far we’ve come from last year. We’ll be looking to continue doing so come next Saturday, October 9. We take on UW-Green Bay at 7 p.m. at the newly-redone Engelmann field for our real home opener. We’ll be counting on a lot of fans to come out and support us as we look to start a little momentum within the Horizon League.
This week my thank you is for our Athletic Trainer John Ochsenwald. Not only has he provided me with tons of assistance via treatment, but also he’s been the one constant positive staff member throughout my career at UWM. Every season is a grind physically, but the mental and emotional tax can be the greatest. Having a staff member who constantly has your best interests in mind can make all the difference. The training room is somewhat of a safe haven at Engelmann, where you can go to get away from the stress and enjoy a laugh with John and fellow players. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for his positive influence, myself and the other seniors probably would not have made it through the past three years. Thus, whether it’s joking around with him in the back of the bus on a long road trip or trying to figure out the best way to get you back on the field after an injury, either way you know he’s got your back. So here’s to you “Ox”!
Until next time,
Joga Bonito
