UW’s final regular season game looked to be a competitive game on paper, but in actuality the game was much more one-sided than many had expected. The underrated Red Birds came in with an impressive overall record of 11-3-2 but left with a fourth loss on their record with their 3-0 loss.
Ranked second in the Missouri Valley Conference, Illinois State was geared up for an intense battle, but the Badgers had other ideas. With the Big Ten Tournament just a week away, the Badgers needed to dominate and use the momentum of a win to help carry them through the playoffs.
All underlying issues considered, the game was like a Mike Tyson vs. Frank Bruno fight, one sided where the crowd was just waiting for the knockout.
With a dismal first half of play the Badgers out shot the Red Birds 16-1, but failed to put any of those shots into the back of the net. All 16 shots were sent wide of the net or over the top of the goal.
“It’s interesting — we as coaches knew we were playing well, [and] what happens is that you need that final execution,” Coach Duerst said. “The connections weren’t quite on, we kind of played our game plan. You need one of the players to just get it done.”
After halftime the Red Birds, who were most definitely still in the game, were thinking upset, but the Badgers had a different idea as they started to get hot offensively.
Leading the way for the Badgers was last week’s Big Ten offensive player of the week, sophomore Amy Vermeulen. She tallied an assist and a goal, while leading the charge for UW.
The second half brought more of the same story shot-wise, as the Badgers out-shot the Red Birds 15-4, bringing the overall game stat to 31 shots to five.
Scoring a quick goal right away in the second half, then ending the game with two more goals in the last 10 minutes, the Badgers put the game away and set their sights on taking the momentum to the Big Ten Tournament, where they will face the third-seed Purdue Boilermakers in the first round.
“What’s really happened with this team in the last four or five weeks is they’ve been training hard,” Duerst said. “Our expectations are to train hard, and I thought we saw the product of that training — automatic play. The speed at which we’re playing and the combination at which we’re playing was happening amongst ten players out there. We’re knocking the ball around very fast, and that’s going to lead us into the Big Ten [Tournament]. We’re on a roll.”
However, in a moment of joy there was also some sadness as the regular-season career of some players came to an end — players such as senior co-captain Kelly Conway, who will leave the team as Wisconsin’s all-time leading career-saves goalie.
“The shutout feels good, but I’m pretty sad,” Conway said. “It’s hitting me that my career is to an end almost. [I’m feeling] a lot of emotions … I’m really excited because I think this team has so much potential, and I think we have a bright future ahead of us. For playoffs it’s bittersweet, [and] it’s awesome to end with such an amazing team. I couldn’t ask for more. This is the most fun I’ve had in four years. [The team has] just such great chemistry.”
