There is no team in the Men’s DII College semis that has been better prepared by its own competition than Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The national runners-up in 2014, The Warhawks have plied their trade in the WIIL Conference, in which they faced Northern Michigan, UW-Lacrosse, and UW-Milwaukee - who all have been ranked this fall. Even some of the lower teams, such as UW-Stout, aren’t weak; Stout was a national playoff team last year.

And then past DePaul in the quarterfinals to the semis, where UWW faced Northern Iowa and Lindenwood-Belleville. All-in-all, the Warhawks took on five ranked teams in league or playoff play before they made the Round of 16 - and beat them all.

In fact, counting the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, Whitewater has gone 11-0, scoring 670 points (61 per game) and allowing 110 (10 per game). That list includes seven ranked teams. Appropriately enough, the hardest game was the last, 31-21 over Rhode Island. Each challenge, said Coach Matt Pederson, has been useful in that it has put his team under pressure, and as a result taught his team something.

“One of the things we need to do better is to work to prevent the lulls that we have found ourselves in the last few games,” said Pederson. “Rhode Island and Lindenwood Belleville were great tough opponents that we had pressured and played great against in the first half then have come out flat and given them hope in the second half.”

That’s the ominous message that the Warhawks have more to give. A punishing team up front, they succeed when they get their backs, especially their impressive deep three (especially wing Alec Treuthardt), running.

“Our prep has been good,” said Pederson. “Rugby this time of the year is not as much about contact but game plan, fitness, and the mental piece. We have continued to practice the basics, but not to the extent that we did earlier in the season. We need to put two halves together to keep the anxiety level down. Once an opponent gets moving on the front foot it is hard to slow them down.”