UW-Eau Claire Men’s soccer played their first match in WIAC competition Friday, Oct. 4 at Simpson Field with a 2-0 victory against UW-Platteville. 

While this was their fourth matchup since the Blugolds established a program in 2021, this was the first conference game in program history as this is the WIAC’s first season as a conference since 2014.

Fourth-year striker Nathan Donovan, who had both goals for the Blugolds, talked about the energy going into conference play Friday.

“It’s really exciting,” Donovan said. “We’ve always been looking forward to it. It’s a different atmosphere, every single team’s trying to bring their A game, it’s going to be competitive.”

The game ended up being a physical and competitive match against a tough Platteville defense that had only given up four goals prior to the match. Donovan was able to get the scoring going early for the Blugolds with a goal just 3:52 into the first half.

Platteville’s goalkeeper Seth Aiken, who stands at 6 ‘8”, forced the Blugolds to make a game plan to better attack him.

“The game plan was just shoot it low,” Donavon said. “I had it on my left foot, shot it far post on the ground.”

While the Blugolds got off to the quick start, Platteville’s defense slowed down their offense resulting in a 1-0 score at half. The Blugolds play got a little physical resulting in 7 fouls and missed opportunities.

When it came to fouls and physicality in the first half, second-year center back Sean Redmond said the team got “chewed out for not winning the first balls” by the coaching staff. 

As a result of that, in the first half Platteville was able to get deep into the Blugolds side of the field and had 4 corner kicks to the Blugolds zero.

Assistant coach Andrew Shirley discussed the team’s defensive gameplan coming off of a 3-0 shutout against University of Dubuque in the previous match, and how the plan was carried out in the first half.

“Today a lot of our focus heading into the game, in the two or three sessions we had prior was focusing on defending set pieces on not giving up set pieces, trying to manage the game in a way that we didn’t give up throw-ins deep in our defensive third and give up free kicks,” Shirley said. “I think in the first half we actually saw us manage that really poorly. They actually saw a lot of the benefit from the play as a result of that.”

Donovan said he felt like the Blugolds didn’t play to their usual standards of a 6-0 home record prior to the match.

“In the first half we were kind of getting outworked, which is unusual for us. We always pride ourselves on being aggressive, winning first and second balls,” Donovon said.

While the Blugolds didn’t play up to expectations, they would still be up by a score at halftime. Platteville had 4 corner kicks in the first half and weren’t able to capitalize with a score, in the second half the Blugolds did not make the same mistake.

Off a corner kick, Donovan came up with the ball and was able to draw a penalty kick. Donovan shot the penalty kick for the Blugolds and was able to get the job done to increase the lead to 2-0.

“They weren’t really playing the ball so I got the call from the ref. Teammates encouraged me with the [penalty kick], said I was going to bury it, that’s what I did,” Donovan said.

Platteville was never able to get their footing and gained three yellow cards as a result. Platteville had only three shots on the goal and were slowed down by the Blugolds defense.

As a centre back, Redmond’s job is to defend the goal post by blocking shots and intercepting passes. Redmond talked about the bond built in the defense and how they have been able to shut down offenses.

“It starts with out of practice like chemistry, hanging out with the team. I think that really builds a bond,” Redmond said. “Me, Carson [Kowalski], Alek [Laroi] — we have a great bond and I think we all trust each other to get it done.”

Shirley highlighted the central defending trio for the Blugolds as huge contributors to the shutout and victory.

“Did a phenomenal job defending balls served in the air and to our box, did a phenomenal job of defending in that last third and making sure that their clearances were on point and where we wanted them to clear the ball,” Shirley said.

While the Blugolds started out slow to begin the match, they were able to respond to a slow start and play a better second half. The push at halftime from the coaching staff shows the comfortability within the team to understand the changes that need to be made to improve.

Since the defeat to St. Olaf College on Sept. 25, the Blugolds have only conceded 1 goal in 3 matches. Shirley said he sees just how much the Blugolds care about winning and the variables that go into their success. 

“You combine their player qualities which it’s the reason why they’re here and you combine that with our tactical plan defensively and that’s where you get a team that is really resilient and refuses to let the ball go in the back of their net,” Shirley said. 

The Blugolds look to continue their winning streak into a home game against Carroll College at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9.

Benes can be reached at [email protected].