A wise man once said that familiarity breeds contempt. With that in mind there should be no love lost between the Badger women's soccer team (0-1-1 Big Ten, 3-4-2 overall) and conference rivals Michigan and Michigan State when the Badgers take both on in a Big Ten home conference stand this weekend.
\Michigan is returning the exact same team from last year,"" senior forward Jessica Wolff said. ""Last season one of Michigan's players punched one of our players. I know we will play really hard Friday night and come out with the same intensity on Sunday.""
At least one Michigan/Wisconsin rivalry is alive and well. Rivalry or not, the Badgers have a tough weekend ahead of them. No. 14 Michigan rolls into town Friday night and a tough Michigan State team invades on Sunday afternoon.
Michigan and Michigan State both come in sporting good records, with Michigan boasting a 7-1 overall record (2-0 Big Ten) and Michigan State sitting at 6-1 overall (2-0 Big Ten). Michigan comes in with a potent offense and talented forwards.
""Michigan has three to four dynamic forwards that are scoring goals,"" Head Coach Dean Duerst said. ""We have experienced backs to mark them out and we have to shut them down. We just have to come out with a lot of confidence and intensity and play our game and we will be successful.""
Also hampering the defense will be the loss of sophomore midfielder Molly Meuer after receiving a red card last week.
""We have to make adjustments because [Meuer] is out,"" senior goalkeeper Kelly Conway said. ""We don't have to adjust our game plan very much; we have to adjust to the player in there for [Meuer]. We are going to play our regular defense and our defenders will do just fine.""
Michigan State presents a different challenge. Junior goalkeeper Stacy Heller goes into the weekend with 0.15 goals against average and four shutouts.
""Last year we tied Michigan State, 0-0, so we are still playing for a win,"" Duerst said. ""The game will be a bit of a defensive slugfest, but anytime you can hit crosses or get endlines that's where the keeper has to come up with a remarkable save. Their goalkeeper is good, but if indeed we are getting endlines we are taking the keeper out of the equation.""
This weekend provides an important conference step for the Badgers. After this weekend the conference season is nearly halfway over. Opening the Big Ten season with a tie at Indiana and a loss at No. 20 Purdue increases the significance of the home stand.
The Badgers will need to capitalize on all the chances they can get with this opportunity to make some noise in the Big Ten if they beat up on Michigan and Michigan State.
""It's a barrier-breaking weekend for our team,"" Duerst said. ""We are hungry and we know what we need to do to get it done.\
