Wisconsin men’s soccer recap: Michigan State defeats UW 4-1

Yesterday the Wisconsin Badgers men’s soccer team dropped their penultimate match of the season, falling to Michigan State 4-1 on the road.

It didn’t take long for the scoring to start in East Lansing, as Olu Ogunwale fired the Spartans ahead just seven minutes in with a nice curled effort. The Badgers soon struck back when Henri Tophoven’s free kick found the boot of Andrew Akindele, with Wisconsin’s leading scorer knocking the delivery home for his third goal of the year.

From that point on, however, the match was all Michigan State. The Spartans put up 13 shots on the afternoon, with Jack Zugay, Will Perkins and Louis Sala all finding the back of the net to help bury the Badgers. For the second straight match the Badgers conceded a penalty kick, this time Will Perkins being the man to convert.

The loss unfortunately seals Wisconsin’s fate as the last place finisher in the Big Ten in 2020, as Michigan State was 2-6 and in second-to-last place heading into the match. The Badgers will have a chance to draw level with Northwestern on record if they beat Michigan in their last game of the season, but even if the Wildcats lose their match against Rutgers they still hold both head-to-head and goal difference tiebreakers over Wisconsin.

The Badgers will head home to McClimon Field to wrap up their season against Michigan on Sunday at 12 PM CT. They’ll enter the match with a 1-7-1 record, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if coach John Trask rolled out a lineup that mixes both seniors getting their final runout at home and freshmen looking to get their feet wet in Big Ten play heading into a fall season.