Stluka Wisconsin Athletic Communications
Rutgers Wisconsin Soccer
Badger Christopher Mueller (15), shown here in 2014, scored the winning goal last week with one second remaining in the Big Ten opener against Rutgers.
Although it might sometimes seem like the only fall sport at the University of Wisconsin is football, other Badger teams are now in action. I’ll focus on the 6-1 UW volleyball team in a future column. Here, I want to run down a list of other Wisconsin teams that deserve your attention.
Soccer: This list was going to be alphabetical. But what sophomore Christopher Mueller did last Friday night in Piscataway, N.J., against Rutgers moved soccer to the top. With time winding down in double overtime, Mueller redirected a blast off a defender and over the Scarlet Knights’ goalkeeper for a Big Ten season-opening win with one second remaining. The 1-4-0 Badger men will play three consecutive home games at McClimon Complex on Sept. 22, 27 and 30. The Badger women, 3-3-1, open Big Ten play at Penn State on Sept. 17 and return home for three straight conference games on Sept. 25, Sept. 27 and Oct. 2.
Cross country: After top 10 finishes at last year’s NCAA meet, the Wisconsin men’s cross country team was ranked No. 4 in this year’s U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason national coaches’ poll, while the women checked in at No. 11. The Badger men earned their first 2015 win at the Badger Season Opener on Sept. 4 at Madison’s Thomas Zimmer Cross Country course. At the same meet, redshirt freshmen Shaelyn Sorensen and Erin Wagner paced the triumphant Badger women.
Golf: The men’s team begins its fall season Sept. 21 at the Notre Dame Invitational and will host the Badger Invitational the following weekend at University Ridge Golf Course. Senior Matt Ross, sophomore Eddie Wajda III and freshman Jordan Hahn are on the 2015-16 “Big Ten Men’s Golfers to Watch” list. The Wisconsin women teed off earlier this week at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C.
Softball: The short exhibition fall season includes two home doubleheaders at Goodman Diamond against Northern Illinois on Sept. 27 and UW-Green Bay on Oct. 4.
Tennis: The women’s squad opened its fall season last Friday at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawk Invite by winning four of eight singles matches and taking three of four doubles matches. Fall’s first serve for the men’s team will take place this weekend at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic under new head coach Danny Westerman, a former UW player who spent nine years coaching at the University of Denver.
