Coming off a road venture that saw the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team come from behind once again to tie Nebraska, the Badgers (1-1-1) continue their road trip this weekend, traveling to the sandy beaches of California to take on UC-Santa Barbara Friday and No. 20 Pepperdine Sunday.
In what has become an unfortunate trend for the women's soccer team over the past two seasons, the Badgers have forced themselves to play from behind, allowing the opposition to score first in all three games this season. Where the trend changes is that the 2006 squad has shown a lot of fight in the early parts of the season, scoring three goals in nine minutes to upend Creighton and fighting back from an early deficit to tie Nebraska.
To earn points in two early contests after digging an early hole has given the Badgers a lot of confidence, especially since coming back to win games was a rare feat last season.
"There's definitely a difference between this year's team and last year's team," UW sophomore forward Taylor Walsh said. "The biggest example is when we played Creighton, and we were down 2-0. We came back and won 3-2 and no disrespect to last year's team, I don't think we would have done that last year. We have that little extra step in there this year that we didn't have last season because we don't want to go through [that losing streak] again."
Senior captain Kara Kabellis agrees, citing that the early season adversity has gotten the team clicking and believing they can fight back on the field and on the scoreboard.
"We have been through some tough games [so far]," Kabellis said. "It's good to go through the adversity early, because it will be good for the Big Ten season … As a team and soccer-wise, we are on the same page early in the year. Playing-wise, one-touch soccer is the way to play, and that's what we're doing."
With Wisconsin having to replace three of its top four scorers from 2005, the Badgers were looking for an offensive boost from anywhere. Through the first three games of 2006, Wisconsin has found a new ball striker in freshman Krista Liskevych.
Liskevych has registered two goals that proved to be instrumental in Wisconsin's success so far. Though only a freshman, the coaching staff had a good feeling about Liskevych when she was recruited, and she hasn't let them down.
"She comes from an athletic family background, and [that has helped her develop]," UW head coach Dean Duerst said. "As an athlete, she focuses, concentrates and adapts well, and that's the biggest thing — how [a newcomer] picks up the new team and the new place.
"She reads the game well and puts herself in some nice positions to score goals," Duerst continued. "She has solidified herself."
This weekend brings forth two challenging opponents for the Badgers, facing off against UCSB (1-1-2) and Pepperdine (2-1-1) in their last road trip before Big Ten conference play begins. UCSB's main strength this season has been their defense, which has allowed just three goals in 400 minutes for .68 goals against average.
Pepperdine's main weapon is sophomore Emily Wynne, who leads the Waves with four goals and two assists on the season. In two of Pepperdine's four games, Wynne has accounted for all of the team's scoring.
"[UCSB and Pepperdine] are both extremely good teams," Duerst said. "West Coast teams in particular really like to move the ball on the ground. That is almost our style, so we match up to them really well. Then the adjustments are in the game.
"These games are going to be tough, even games, and in those cases, you can't leave a player like [Emily Wynne] alone," Duerst said of Pepperdine's star. "You don't give her breathing room, and [you] be sure to get to the place she's running to. But if we just focus too much on her against a team like Pepperdine, it probably isn't the best course of action … We need to focus the whole game and play our game."
Though a non-conference trip, this two-game West Coast swing will give a good indication of how Wisconsin will perform when it comes to the rigors of the Big Ten conference season. Last season, the Badgers went 1-1 on their West Coast trip, beating Washington and losing to Portland, who won the national championship last season.
This season, Wisconsin is looking to finalize the starting rotation and continue to find the right contingent of players. Regardless, the goal of the trip is simple.
"We want to go out to the West Coast and get two big wins," Duerst said. "They'll both be big wins. Realistically, we want to put more of a complete game together. We have played very well in all three games, well enough to win all three, but we haven't gotten the results.
"[If] we play the rest of our games [the way we can play], we're going to do really well."
