Friday night, the Wisconsin woman’s soccer team (5-4-1 Big Ten, 12-5-1 overall) started the road trip off with a bang. Lead by an offensive force, the Badgers defeated Purdue (2-6-1 Big Ten, 7-8-2 overall), 4-2.
The Badger attack was lead by senior midfielder Monica Lam-Feist and sophomore forward Cara Walls, as each put in a pair of goals. Wisconsin’s offense was in full throttle as they took 18 shots, 8 of which were on goal.
Cara Walls struck first in the 38th minute after receiving the corner kick pass from freshman Kinley McNicoll. The ball was perfectly swung in by McNicoll, and headed past the goalkeeper for the first goal of the match. Just seconds later, Lam-Feist scored the second goal of the night. Following a sloppy Purdue pass, Lam-Feist stole the ball and snuck it past the Boilermaker goalkeeper.
UW quickly got back to work in the second half after Lam-Feist again was able to find the back of the net in the 47th minute.
The Boilermakers attempted to make a late comeback after junior midfielder Jordan Pawlik buried a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. The Badgers responded promptly with a Walls goal in the 79th minute.
Despite a late goal by Purdue freshman Kate Fowee, UW was able to hold on to the lead and bring home the win.
Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin continued the conference win streak in a thriller over Indiana (4-6-0 Big Ten, 9-8-1 overall).
In a turn around from Friday’s game, the Badgers could not find the net early in the game. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, scored in the 14th minute. Indiana junior defender Lara Ross buried a shot from 25 yards out.
The game remained back and fourth until Wisconsin freshman midfielder Mckenna Meuer scored for the Badgers in the 83rd minute, marking her fourth goal of the season.
Just one minute from the end of the game, freshman midfielder Lindsey Holmes sent the ball across the middle in front of the goal, where the Hoosier goalkeeper deflected it. Luckily, senior defender Joana Bielefeld was in the right place at the right time, and tapped the ball into the net for the win.
The victory over Indiana marks the fifth straight conference win for UW, and puts them over .500 in conference play.
Wisconsin’s next and final regular season game is at Iowa on Saturday, October 27th, as the Hawkeyes will look to cool down the red hot Badgers. UW is now tied for fourth in the Big Ten with Minnesota and Illinois.
With the Big Ten tournament just around the corner, the Badgers seem to be playing their best soccer at the right time.
