Sports: Women's Soccer

Nosbusch earns weekly accolades

Wisconsin freshman Laurie Nosbusch earned two honors this week — one from the Big Ten and one from Soccer Buzz Magazine — for her impressive play on the weekend.

First, Nosbusch was named Co-Offensive Player of the Week Monday in the Big Ten, sharing the honor with junior Katie Schoepfer of Penn State. Nosbusch’s second honor came Tuesday as she was named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week, along with 14 other players.

Nosbusch was honored to receive the awards, but also was quick to point out her teammates’ success.

“It is pretty exciting, but you don’t really score a goal by yourself,” Nosbusch said. “I think it’s more of an award for the entire team for getting as many goals as we did.”

In Sunday’s match against Michigan State, all the hype was centered around the Spartans’ forward duo of freshman Laura Heyboer and junior Lauren Hill. Nosbusch wasn’t fazed as she led the Badgers to a 2-0 victory with a goal and an assist.

Earning the award while playing against Heyboer, the nation’s leading scorer with 44 points, and leading her team to two conference wins made Nosbusch’s success on the weekend all the more impressive.

“To get the award against a quality Big Ten team means even more,” Nosbusch said. “It means even more when you get a win out of it, so that was the best part about it — that we could get enough goals to get wins.”

Nosbusch also had another goal and assist Friday in the Badgers’ 3-1 victory over the Wolverines of Michigan. With a pair of goals and two assists on the weekend, Nosbusch turned some heads, leading to the honors she earned this week.

“I’m always sort of impressed with Laurie,” head coach Paula Wilkins said. “She is one of the hardest working kids we have on the team in terms of effort and willingness to sacrifice her body to score goals, which I think is rare to find sometimes in a young freshman.”

Wilkins agreed with the fact that while Nosbusch received the honors for her personal success, the awards she received are a credit to the team’s play as a whole on the weekend.

“It’s always great for anybody to get that type of recognition,” Wilkins said. “I always tell the players that it’s a sign of the success of the team because if they’re not winning and doing things well then players won’t get recognized.”

Since Nosbusch believes the accolades are due largely in part to the rest of the team’s success, she hopes they can share in her excitement in receiving them.

“I think it should be exciting for everyone to know that we’re getting opportunities and taking advantage of them,” Nosbusch said. “We scored five goals on the weekend, so that just shows that everyone is working together.”

Nosbusch has been a huge asset for the Badgers’ offense throughout the season so far. Her play has been especially important to the team with senior Taylor Walsh battling a knee injury for much of the season.

Nosbusch leads Wisconsin with 21 points and seven assists through 16 games. She also is second on the team in goals with seven, just one behind Walsh.

Walsh also received the same honors as Nosbusch earlier this season following the Hoosier Classic, when she notched the first hat trick of her career.

For much of the season, the Badgers’ confidence as a young team seemed to go up and down as they had more or less success. With the recent success and the honors received by Nosbusch, the players’ confidence seems to grow by the day.

“I think all that stuff always adds up and gives some confidence to them,” Wilkins said. “With the way they are in practice, it seems like they believe a little bit more and more each day, and I think that’s important for the success of this program.”