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Following defeat to UIC, we headed into this week with a midweek rivalry game and a must-win conference battle on Saturday night. There wasn’t much time to get working on things between games and it was more of a battle to get recovered and refreshed in time for the next game.
Heading into our game against UW, we knew that once again we’d have to rest some key players. Tony Maxey was rested due to injury and starting forward and leading point getter, Andrew Wiedabach, was left off the game roster. We headed into Madison Wednesday afternoon and by the time the game rolled around it was completely dark, dropping to frigid temperatures, all topped off by some of the strongest winds since I’ve been at UWM.
We started the game poorly and fell victim to two quick-fire counterattack goals as a result of careless turnovers in the midfield. The second half brought about a more spirited performance, but we left Madison knowing we missed a great chance to improve our record and restore some in-state dominance over the Badgers.
Following a silent bus ride back, we spent a little time in the locker room regrouping and refocusing on what’s rest of the season. Wright State became the sole focus for us and everybody knew that we had to win in order to confidently clinch a spot in the conference tournament following regular season play. For the returning players, we felt there was definitely some unfinished business with Wright State after playing to only a draw there last fall. We decided to start the game pressing them high up on the field Saturday night to make sure we came out and started the game well and the match couldn’t have started better for us. We were ahead 1-0 in a record time of around 1 minute and 16 seconds through some smooth interplay from Cody Banks and Andrew, leading to a find 1 v. 1 finish against the goalkeeper from Jordan Record.
We dominated the rest of the half and had some good chances to bury the game, but went into the locker room at 1-0 at half time. Unfortunately, it seemed as if though we let our foot off the gas in the second half and we were forced to grind out the rest of the game. However, when the final whistle blew, the scoreboard read 1-0 for Milwaukee and a win is a win. By the time we regrouped in the locker room, we found out we had punched our ticket into the postseason and were able to celebrate Halloween feeling at ease with our immediate future.
I personally spent my Halloween night out with some of the guys on the team and my girlfriend and I thought I’d attach a picture of myself and some of the guys in their respective outfits.
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This week my thanks goes to all the Super Fans that come to all the games and get behind our team and heckle our opponents. This group, led by Jimmy Lemke, has been a mainstay at all home games and also a lot of away games throughout my career and their support goes largely unmentioned. It takes a lot to convince yourself to get bundled up on a Saturday night and bypass parties and local bars to come support your school’s team, but for us players it really gives us an added motivation.
Knowing that your student body is behind you is a huge confidence boost and it felt great to clinch our conference tournament berth in front of them. Thanks again and hopefully we’ll be able to get a conference tournament game at home sometime soon.
Joga Bonito
