After ending its season riding a four-game winning streak, the Wisconsin women's soccer team now sets its focus on postseason play. However, in order to have a shot at making this year's NCAA tournament, Wisconsin needs to have a strong showing in this year's Big Ten tournament, which begins Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
With its win last Friday against Northwestern, Wisconsin (10-8-2, 3-6-1 Big Ten) clinched the seventh seed in the Big Ten tournament and will face the second seed, No. 20 nationally-ranked Purdue in the first round. If Wisconsin wins Thursday, it will face the winner of the Michigan State-Indiana game in Friday's semifinal. More importantly for the Badgers, they would not have to play top seed and undefeated Penn State until the championship game, which really excites the Wisconsin players.
"We got a gift with the bracket we have," sophomore goalkeeper Lynn Murray said. "It's still going to be hard and we're still going to have to work for it, but it made our hopes and dreams completely possible."
Head coach Dean Duerst agrees, citing the fact that his team would need to play a nearly flawless game to compete with Penn State.
"The two teams that we'll face are teams we know we can beat [versus] Penn State, where everything needs to be aligned correctly [to win]," Duerst said. "In a way, it's a confidence boost as we're using every little thing that's going our way, especially the last four games. We have already kind of played a play in game against Northwestern and we've been under that pressure. We're definitely looking to shut those teams out and our goal is to get a shutout those first two games."
Wisconsin has prior success in the Big Ten tournament's history. In the conference's first tournament in 1994 — played in Madison — Wisconsin walked away the victors after it defeated all three opponents by shutout. In the 2002 tournament, hosted by Michigan State, the Badgers won their first two games (both shutouts once again) before losing in the final to Ohio State 2-1. This season's tournament is no exception, as Wisconsin looks to continue its trend of playing great soccer in high-pressure situations.
"We've been [to the Big Ten tournament] and we know what it's like," Duerst said. "This is my fourth Big Ten final and what I have learned is that you don't want to get too excited too early. There's no need for that because then you're burning extra energy. It is just one game that you can end your season. So, motivationally, that's going to be on the table. You're taking small steps to a big goal and that's a Big Ten title."
Wisconsin's first round opponent are the Boilermakers of Purdue, who enter the Big Ten tournament with an 11-6-1 overall record and finished second in the conference standings with a 7-2-1 mark. Purdue possesses two outstanding players up front in Jessica Okoroafo and Lauren Sesselmann. Okoroafo leads the Boilermakers in goals, with 10 tallies on the season, while Sesselmann, a first team all-Big Ten selection, led the team in points with 23 on the year. Purdue was also steady in front of the net, with junior keeper Lauren Mason starting all eighteen games for Purdue, posting a 1.13 goals against average. In the two teams' only matchup this season Purdue tailed the game's only goal in the 88th minute to sneak past Wisconsin 1-0. This time around, the Badgers are hoping the ball will bounce a little differently.
"We'll make some adjustments (against Purdue)," Duerst said. "Both teams match up really well and both teams play to their strengths. There are a couple different things that we can do without changing our game that may help us … we've changed in the way we play since we last played them. I think we have tightened down defensively."
In what has been a difficult and trying season for Wisconsin, things are finally starting to turn around. It's hard to say how far the Badgers need to advance in the conference tournament to extend their season. However, one thing is for sure according to senior captain Jessica Ring — Wisconsin has a big chip on its shoulders and revenge on its minds.
"We've had a great year, we have 10 wins and every little win is going to make a difference," Ring said. "I think we're just ready to go into the tournament and get some revenge for our season. A lot of close games we lost and they really didn't go the way we wanted to. We want to play everybody again. It would be great to beat anybody."
