This weekend, No. 13 Wisconsin (5-2 Big Ten, 11-2-0 overall) faced Ohio State (2-4-0, 5-7-0) and No. 7 Penn State (7-0-0, 12-1-0) to start a three-game home stand. In the first game against Ohio State on Friday night, the Badgers dominated from the start and came away with a 2-0 shutout.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” redshirt senior goalkeeper Genevieve Richard said. “[head coach Paula Wilkins] talked to us before the game about how we had to be disciplined and do what we usually do and make sure we were consistent in our effort and that’s what we did today.”
The Badgers had possession for most of the game and had 15 shots on goal compared to six for Ohio State.
“We wanted to come into this game really focused,” said senior forward Cara Walls. “We talked about that all week and knew Ohio State is a good team but we felt confident and knew if we played our game we were going to get our chances.”
The Badgers’ first goal came in the 44th minute when sophomore midfielder Rose Lavelle scored on a free kick from 35 yards out to put UW up 1-0. Later, in the 65th minute, Walls scored her eighth goal of the season on an assist from Molly Laufenberg to make the score 2-0.
“I knew I was posted up against the center back and usually when I’m in that position I’m looking to lay it off, but as soon as Molly had the ball I thought in my head, I want a spinner,” said Walls. “So, I took a lucky touch, looked up and I was open so I said let’s put in on frame.”
The second game, however, was a different story as the Badgers fell to Penn State 2-0 on Sunday afternoon. Penn State scored two goals in the second half in a hard fought Big Ten battle.
“If you look at results, it’s hard to take this game being at home. I thought we created enough chances to get a result today,” coach Wilkins said “It’s challenging, especially for games that are part of the Big Ten championship race.”
This is only the second time all season that UW has allowed two or more goals and this is not coincidentally only the second loss for UW goalkeeper Genevieve Richard. The first Nittany Lion goal that came in the 79th minute was scored by Emily Ogle and was assisted by Mallory Weber. The second goal was scored with 25 seconds remaining in the game as Salina Williford scored on assist from Megan Schafer.
Despite the final score, Penn State only outshot the Badgers 10-9 and both teams had six corner kicks.
“The one thing I take away as a coach is that it showed us what we need to do better,” Wilkins added. “By playing a good team, it showed our weaknesses and we still have six games to go get better. That’s going to be real important for us to learn from this game and move on.”
