Madison offers kickers chance for league win

By David Mosse

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan men's soccer team heads to Madison in a bit of a funk. Losers of two in a row and four of the their last five games, the Wolverines are thirsting for a win to get their season back on track.

Still winless in the Big Ten, Michigan squares off this afternoon against a Wisconsin team also headed in the wrong direction. The Badgers have lost three in a row and fallen near the bottom of the Big Ten standings.

Michigan's latest defeat came at the hands of intrastate rival Michigan State, in gut-wrenching fashion. After taking the lead in the first half with a Brian Peters goal, the Wolverines surrendered the lead in the second half and eventually lost the game in double-overtime.

The result marked the second time this season that Michigan has taken a Big Ten rival to the brink, only to drop a heartbreaker. Two weeks ago, the Wolverines suffered an overtime defeat to Penn State.

Michigan followed up that effort in disastrous fashion, by getting waxed, 7-0, in Bloomington.

"You have to learn from your defeats," Michigan coach Steve Burns said. "After every loss we talk about looking ahead to the next game."

In addition to rebounding from the loss to the Spartans, Michigan must also reverse a disturbing trend. The Wolverines have fared well at tiny Elbel Field this season but have not produced the same effort away from home.

"When we get teams at Elbel we can really frustrate them and take them out of their game," Burns said. "But when we play on a big field like the one in Indiana, we have trouble covering the whole field."

Wisconsin's McClimon soccer complex is not quite the edifice Michigan faced in Bloomington but it is much larger than Elbel Field.

In addition to coping with the surroundings, the Michigan defense will also have its hands full with Wisconsin forwards Dominic DaPra, and Narciso Fernandez. The tandem has combined for 19 goals this season, and DaPra's 11 tallies are a conference best.

The task of slowing them down should fall on the shoulders of Steve Huber and Kevin Taylor, who have anchored the Michigan defense all season.

Today

Who: Michigan (4-6, 0-3) vs. Wisconsin (7-6, 1-2)

When: 6 p.m.

Latest: The Wolverines are looking for their first Big Ten victory in the team's young history.

McClimon complex