Women’s Hockey
The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team (4-2-0 WCHA, 4-2-0 overall) moved up to No. 2 in this week’s NCAA rankings and will continue its homestand with a series against Lindenwood (0-7-1) this weekend.
The Badgers are coming off a dominant series sweep of St. Cloud State at the LaBahn arena.
Head coach Mark Johnson described the challenge of preparing for what could be perceived as a lower-tier opponent in Lindenwood, a program which was recently admitted into the NCAA as a varsity sport before the 2011-’12 season.
“One thing I’ve learned is you have to respect your opponent. Don’t look at their record. Don’t look at their history,” Johnson said. “Prepare for that 60 minutes Friday night like it’s the last game of the season and you have to go out and win it.“
Unanimous No. 1 Minnesota swept the Badgers in Minneapolis earlier this month.
“The two games we had a couple weeks ago were evenly matched. They found ways both nights to end up beating us. So the object now is to grow. So we’ll get a better feel of that in February when we come down and play the two games here in Madison.”
Volleyball
The volleyball team (5-3 Big Ten, 16-4) continued it’s breakout season with a 3-1 upset of No. 5 Michigan State at the UW Field House.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield praised his team’s defense and serving, along with many individual players’ performances.
“[Senior] Annemarie Hickey was absolutely fantastic defensively the whole match. I thought [freshman] Lauren Carlini did a really good job of executing the game plan,” Sheffield said. “[Junior] Ellen Chapman probably played one of her most complete games of the year, certainly put a lot of pressure on them from behind the serving line.”
Sheffield later discussed the upcoming match against No. 10 Minnesota on Wednesday.
“Their outsides are about as good as anybody in the conference. They’ve got a player of the year candidate in the middle. We’ve got to try to figure out a way to slow her down a little bit. And then a couple of freshmen that have come in and really done a nice job.”
Football
The football team (3-1, 5-2) dominated Illinois en route to a 56-32 win in Champaign. Now, a second bye week awaits the Badgers in the coming weekend.
Andersen went on to discuss junior kicker Kyle French’s decision to forgo a senior season with the Badgers.
“I think he believes he’s moving in the right direction for the football team, number one, for himself and football for the rest of the season, and for himself in the future as he prepares to go in the direction he’s going in years to come. He knows he’s got my support,” Andersen said. “Kids’ lives change every single day. Doesn’t always go the way we want it to just like our lives do. He’s a great kid. I’m here to support him, and he knows that. I think his teammates are here to support him also.”
Andersen stated he expected senior linebacker Chris Borland to be ready for the team’s next game at Iowa but, kicking long field goals might be out of the question.
