After seeing her team lose a nail-biter the previous night, Taylor Walsh wasn't about to let Wisconsin come out of the Big Toe Invitational without a positive result. Walsh scored a pair of goals to lift the Wisconsin women's soccer team over in-state rival UW-Milwaukee and help the club rebound from a Friday-night overtime loss to Brigham Young University.
Walsh and the Badgers were able to take hold of Saturday's game early when she notched her first career goal as a Badger at 1:11 to give Wisconsin an early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Ann Eshun hit Walsh mid-stride as she beat UWM goalie Erin Kane on the upper left side. Later in the half, Walsh recorded her second score following an assist from junior Allison Preiss at 26:28.
Wisconsin continued to control the remainder of the contest. Senior Katy Lindenmuth scored next for the Badgers, her third goal of the season. Ten minuets later, Preiss scored her second goal of the season on a header from senior Becky Katsma. Wisconsin goalkeeper Lynn Murray recorded her third shutout of the season, stopping five UWM shot attempts, as the Badgers ended their match against the Panthers with a 4-0 win.
"The way Taylor (Walsh) took that first shot really made a statement," Wisconsin head coach Dean Duerst said. "We came out of the box early. We showed a lot of maturity and leadership being ready for this match after a tough loss. Getting an early goal helped."
In Saturday's contest, Wisconsin was upended 2-1 in double overtime against undefeated BYU (7-0-0). The game proved to be a real defensive match-up as neither team could find their niche on offense.
BYU struck first when its leading scorer, Jessica Aquino, beat Murray at 34:45. Fortunately for Wisconsin, the Badgers found themselves only down one goal at halftime after surviving a barrage of BYU scoring attacks.
"[In the first half] we gave them a little bit in terms of more space and didn't really allow them to sneak in behind as much," Duerst said. "Part of that is our midfield stepped up its pressure and started to close down spaces so they didn't have as much time, and time and space is key in soccer."
Following halftime, Wisconsin was able to make necessary defensive adjustments to hold off Aquino and the Cougar offense. Halfway through the second period, junior midfielder Kara Kabellis scored her second goal of the season to tie the game 1-1.
The game remained tied all the way into the second sudden-death period until BYU scored the controversial game-deciding goal. Before the final goal, Kabellis had the ball up field, until BYU's senior captain Jaime Rendich Beck slide tackled Kabellis, causing her to go down hard. No foul was issued from the referee, in what had been to that point, a tightly called game. Beck continued down the sideline and scored past a diving Murray for the game winner.
"Overall, we didn't play as consistently as we could have," Duerst said. "We put together some great combinations and really moved the ball around well, [but] we didn't sustain enough of that. I think the bottom line is, we had two or three chances that didn't go our way. It was a very exciting game; anybody could have won that one. So, it's a really tough loss because it could have been a tie."
Walsh, Kabellis and Marisa Brown were all selected to the Big Toe All-Tournament team. In addition, Brown was named the tournament's most outstanding defensive player. Brown played exceptionally over the weekend while taking over for team co-captain Jessica Ring, who missed the game after picking up a redcard last weekend against Washington.
"Marisa is just noticeable; she is everywhere," Duerst said. "She is such a complete player and is capable of playing any position."
