If last Sunday's come-from-behind-thriller of a win was a sorely needed victory for the Wisconsin Badgers women's soccer team (2-4-0 Big Ten, 6-6-1 overall), this Friday's match against Iowa (0-5-1, 3-8-1) in Iowa City can hold no less significance.
\It's important, especially since right now Iowa is at the bottom of the Big Ten,"" senior mid-fielder Jenny Kundert said. ""We've got to take advantage of it; we've got to put another win on our column before we get to the tougher teams. We've got to take it seriously.""
Kundert led the the Badgers in last week's victory, as Wisconsin scored two goals in the last 15 minutes of regulation to beat Northwestern (2-3, 6-5) and snap a rough four-game losing skid. The Badgers are looking to get back in the conference hunt by matching that losing streak with an momentum-building winning streak.
The good news for the Badgers is that the road will get easier before it gets harder. Iowa is in last place in the Big Ten and has yet to notch a conference win. The Hawkeyes surrender a conference worst 2.17 goals per game and average only 1.08 goals per game on offense.
That's definitely good news for the Badgers, who are 6-0 this season when scoring two or more goals in a game.
""We need to score two goals, because when we do, we win,"" Head Coach Dean Duerst said. ""We need to use the confidence from our victory, you know the way we won that game, to the next win and that should help us in the journey towards the end of the year.""
However, it is not all good news for UW. Beginning with Iowa, the Badgers start a four game road trip that sends them to Ohio State (2-1-2, 8-1-2), second place Penn State (4-1-0, 10-2-2) and Minnesota (2-4-0, 5-5-1). Those four games also mark the end of the Big Ten regular season, making each game more important than the previous, as seedings for the Big Ten Tournament will be determined.
""The Big Ten Tournament is coming up and we definitely want to be [in] a different placing. We have to win, we have to get a better record,"" freshman goalkeeper Stefani Szczechowski said. ""We need to start winning again and carry that momentum over to the Big Ten Tournament. We definitely want to make an impact there, after all it's in our home field and we should succeed.""
Even with much competition ahead of this young Badger team, everyone knows they cannot look past this Iowa team. A major pitfall for the team would be to ignore Iowa and not consider them dangerous due to their lowly conference record. But the Badgers are avoiding that hole altogether.
""I think that makes them more of a threat, that they don't have any wins, because they're looking, just like we were, to turn it around,"" Szczechowski said. ""They have nothing to lose, so we have to watch out for that. They're going to be dangerous.""
""They know they need a win, so it's going to make it that much harder for us,"" Kundert said. ""It's not like any other team; they know they have to win the game and there is that point in the season where they're in desperation. I think it's going to be a lot harder than most people think.\
