By Justin St. Peter
The Warhawks have some work to do to make the playoffs. After losing 4-0 to the unbeaten No. 6 UW-Oshkosh Titans (14-0-4) on the road Sunday, Nov. 2, they are on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament.
The ‘Hawks (14-5-1) will head into the first-ever WIAC Championship as the No. 2 seed. They will host the No. 3 seed UW-Superior Yellow Jackets at 6 p.m. Wednesday night at Fiskum Field.
Junior defender Ryan Reid says he is confident the team can play well in the tournament.
“I think that we can do great,” Reid said. “I believe that when we play our game, we are unbeatable. We have beaten Superior. We have beaten Platteville. We had a rough game on the road at Oshkosh. I believe that if we play to our potential, no one can beat us.”
The ‘Hawks beat UW-Superior 1-0 on Oct. 19 at home on a double-overtime goal by senior midfielder Bob Shone on a cross from junior midfielder John Gottwald.
“We are looking for another match where it will kind of be like grinding it out, look for an opportunity and capitalize on it when we can,” head coach Tony Guinn said. “We definitely want to get that win, and we definitely think that we can achieve that.”
Because of the WIAC conference having too few teams in it to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Guinn is unsure if the ’Hawks will make the tournament at the end of the year.
“From the moment that you start the season, it’s like a pressure cooker,” Guinn said. “The only way you get in the NCAA tournament is you have to play a grueling schedule, you have to win a lot of games, and then even if you might rank in the top 30 in the country, you might not even get in. You don’t even know until they announce it.”
The ‘Hawks hope to rebound quickly after the loss to UW-Oshkosh and improve those chances.
The Titans scored their first goal in the 27th minute of the first half off the foot of freshman midfielder Jacob Hernandez.
“They just won the first half and kind of put us in a tough spot coming out in the second half trying to make some plays to get one back,” senior defender Kyle Sundby said.
They added the other three goals in the second half, but the ’Hawks managed seven shots, including four on goal.
“That result in Oshkosh is not something that any of us wanted,” Sundby said. “We know it isn’t a result that dictates how good of a team we are. We are much better than that.”
Guinn says he was still proud of the way his team responded to the loss.
“You can judge a lot in people by how they respond to when things aren’t going as well as they like,” Guinn said. “I was really proud of how they conducted themselves in that game, their attitudes and behavior after the game.”
