On the heels of a strong opening weekend, the Wisconsin women’s soccer team leap-frogged 10 spots in the most recent Soccer America Top 25 poll. The Badgers made the jump from No. 21 to No. 11 after defeating Oregon on Friday and Tennessee on Sunday.
UW also checked in at No.19 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll following the pair of wins this past weekend.
The season-opener against Oregon featured a tightly-contested, defensive first half with no scoring. UW broke through in the 54th minute when Cara Walls found the back of the net for the lone goal of the game. She was assisted on a through ball from Kodee Williams who received a flick pass from Rose Lavelle, who started the scoring effort. The Badgers’ taut defense and goalkeeper Genevieve Richard held the Ducks scoreless for a 1-0 shutout victory.
The Sunday matinee against Tennessee needed more than 90 minutes to declare a winner. Rose Lavelle got Wisconsin off to a quick start with an unassisted goal in the 17th minute. Tennessee broke through the Badgers’ defense in the 62nd minute to tie things up at one. The game remained in a 1-1 tie until Kodee Williams received a feed from Kinley McNicoll and promptly netted the golden goal just a minute and 14 seconds into overtime, securing the Badgers’ second victory of the season.
“In the offseason we talked about when challenges present themselves we need to stick together,” Wisconsin head coach Paula Wilkins said at her weekly news conference on Monday. “I thought that the confidence we had going into this overtime was something that we didn’t have last year. I think it comes from a bit of leadership. Kodee’s goal was big as a senior leader.”
Men’s Soccer
The Wisconsin men’s soccer team completed their preseason exhibition schedule, as the Badgers traveled to Indiana to take on preseason No.1 overall ranked Notre Dame Monday night. Things went downhill rather quickly for the Badgers, who gave up two early goals. By the 84th minute, the Badgers found themselves in a 5-0 hole. Freshman Christopher Mueller notched UW’s lone goal of the evening and saved the Badgers from being shutout.
Wisconsin will enter the season ranked 21st and opens the 2014 campaign against the University of San Francisco at home Friday.
