The Wisconsin women's soccer team (6-4-1) had a rough weekend, losing to both No. 17 Illinois (7-4-0) and the Purdue Boilermakers (8-3-1). The players and head coach Paula Wilkins believe that the team needs to come out with more intensity in the first half and maintain that intensity for the full 90 minutes.
Once we were able to connect passes we were a lot more dangerous '¦ We have to do a better job in starting,"" Wilkins said.
On Friday night, the Badgers lost to the Fighting Illini 2-1. Senior Marti Desjarlais scored the Illini's first goal with the assist going to senior midfielder Jessica Levitt. The second goal was scored in the 36th minute by Levitt after a mishandle of the ball by senior goalkeeper Jamie Klages. The Badgers came together after the half and really got their game going. In the first 30 seconds of the second half, junior Stephanie Krombach scored the lone goal of the game into the upper-right corner of the net.
""It was that momentum change that we needed, first 28 seconds that she scored the goal. So just to come out and prove to the other team, prove to ourselves that we can get a goal; it is just what we needed,"" Klages said.
Wisconsin did not take advantage of the corner kick opportunities they had Friday night. Wisconsin had 10 corners on the night compared to Illinois' three. Freshman Meghan Flannery contributed to many goal opportunity crosses as well throughout the night.
Wisconsin's defense proved to be a good matchup to Illinois. ""I thought challenging balls and not letting people turn, [the players] were very good. The first goal [Illinois] scored was a product of our mistake; we sort of gave it to them. There is little bits and parts of the game that we need to do a little bit better, especially midfield defending,"" Wilkins said.
Even with a loss, Wisconsin kept their heads high and maintained focus for their next matchup on Sunday. ""[It's] disappointing to lose a game we could have won. Especially for, not only for myself, but the freshman on the team, that this is supposed to be the second ranked team and for us to not only hang with them but outshoot them, get more corner kicks and more actual shots on goal, that is just a huge confidence booster for everybody on the team,"" Klages said.
With Sunday's matchup against Purdue, the Badgers came out slow and fell 1-0. Wilkins said that the game tempo was poor and relaxed.
""[The tempo] was pretty slow in the first half. We were trying to get things going but we just couldn't seem to do it. In the second half it seemed like something clicked and were finally able to pick up the tempo and go a little bit harder,"" freshman Laurie Nosbusch said.
Purdue junior Loredana Riverso scored the only goal in the 32nd minute. The shot was deflected off of Klages.
Purdue out-shot Wisconsin in the first half, 5-1, but Wisconsin retaliated in the second half and gained momentum and had outshot Purdue 9-5.
""We were our own worst enemy out there today. We couldn't connect passes. We just didn't play well,"" Nosbusch said.
The Badgers are away for their next two games playing Ohio State Oct. 3 and Penn State Oct. 5.
