The University of Wisconsin-Madison women’s soccer team staged a stunning two-goal comeback with an equalizer in the last 60 seconds of the game to finish 2-2 against Nebraska last Sunday.
Down 2-1 with less than a minute left in the game, graduate student defender Peighton Steffon was granted a throw-in after a skirmish near the left corner of the Wisconsin goal. The Badgers couldn’t gain control, and the ball went out of bounds again as Steffon earned another throw-in.
This time, Steffon managed to get the ball downfield into Nebraska's box, but defenders blocked the ball, and it landed straight to senior defender Aidan McConnell’s feet. At midfield, McConnell struck the ball back into the box, and sophomore Hailey Baumann headed it into the net while moving backward for her first collegiate goal.
For the Badgers, the game did not start as promising as it ended. Nebraska took an offensive lead in the first half, outscoring Wisconsin 2-0. The Huskers’ first goal of the game came in the third minute off of a corner-kick that flew over Baumann’s head and into the goal before Drew Stover could stop it. To her credit, Stover had three saves in the first half, which was more than the two goals she eventually allowed.
The Badgers struggled offensively in the first half, leveling five shots to Nebraska’s six, but only one was on target. Wisconsin struggled to create offensive space for themselves to close in on the Nebraska goal without being boxed out by their defenders.
Nebraska ended the half up 2-0, but the Badgers came into the second half ready to fight as they created many more shot opportunities for themselves. The Badgers outshot Nebraska 8-3 in the second half, with five of those shots being on goal and two netting points.
Wisconsin’s first goal came from graduate midfielder Aryssa Marht with an assist from Senior Midfielder Ashley Martinez. Marht's goal in the 60th minute was her first since the Badgers played Milwaukee in early September. Early in the season, Marht scored in four of the Badgers' first five games played, but she has struggled to get past goalkeepers from Rutgers and the University of California-Los Angeles in the latter half of the season.
Marht had three shots on goal for the game, the most of anyone on the team, bringing up her numbers from previous games against UCLA and University of Southern California where she didn’t score and had a low number of shots.
Though a draw, this game seemed to be a step forward in what has been a slump for the women’s team over the past two weeks. Throughout this slump, Martinez has remained consistent, but now it seems Marht has her groove back and Baumann is ready to get into the weeds offensively.
Gabriella Hartlaub is the former arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has also written state politics and campus news. She currently is a summer reporting intern with Raleigh News and Observer. Follow her on Twitter at @gabihartlaub.
