It was certainly an emotional three-day stretch for the Badgers.
It started Friday night against Michigan State in a battle of undefeated teams looking to keep their respective streaks alive. Wisconsin was without its leading goal scorer, senior forward Cara Walls, replacing her with freshman Becca Harrison.
Harrison made a statement early, scoring in the 19th minute off of assists credited to her veteran teammates, redshirt senior forward Kodee Williams and junior midfielder Kinley McNicoll. After the Spartans tied up the game in the second half sending the game to Golden Goal overtime, Harrison struck again.
Just one minute into extras, McNicholl set up Harrison from a corner kick, and the freshman put it into the back of the net, sealing the Badgers’ victory. The 7-0 start was tied for the best start in Wisconsin history.
With only a day of rest, head coach Paula Wilkins and the team hoped to take their momentum into Sunday’s matchup against the Michigan Wolverines. However, it was UM who came out firing.
In the eighth minute, Michigan redshirt freshman forward Ani Sarkisian struck first, after a loose ball in the box left her an open shot. The Badgers responded in the 35th minute, as McNicholl hit in the equalizer on a penalty kick.
It was an even contest; the two teams were tight in shots, shots on goal, and saves, and it appeared that neither team would get a leg up on the other. That was, until the final second of the game, when the Wolverines took one last free kick. That free kick made its way to Sarkisian, who sealed the game with a score with the clock reading 89:59.
There are not too many ways to lose that are more demoralizing than that. It was a close game to the very end, in what can only be described as a heartbreaker for the Badgers.
“I told the team one game doesn’t define a season. How we respond to this will be one of the most important things of our season,” Coach Wilkins said. “We have to take things away from this that we weren’t prepared for today. Michigan did a great job and we didn’t lock up at the end there.”
Wisconsin has six days off before they get a chance to get their season back on track, at home Saturday against Nebraska.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
