In her second year on campus, Katy Lindenmuth has emerged as a leader for the Badger women’s soccer team.
After starting the year with a 4-2-1 record, UW has slipped in Big Ten play to 6-6-1 overall with a 2-4 conference record. However, Lindenmuth believes Wisconsin is ready to bounce back and is prepared to lead the way.
“We’re a little disappointed,” Lindenmuth said. “All of our games have been really close and things just haven’t been bouncing our way, really, so we’re just trying to stay positive. Hopefully this [win] will get us back on track.”
Opportunities have been plentiful for the Badgers this season, and it is the young ambition of Lindenmuth that has shown what it takes to start capitalizing on significant occasions.
“We need to score goals — I mean, we’ve had tons of opportunities. Every game has been really close. [We need to] stay positive and not get down on each other,” Lindenmuth said. “If we can start scoring goals and getting some more offensive pressure, I think we’ll find results.”
Lindenmuth, who started nearly every game as a freshman last year and ranked third on the team in goals, brings a lot to the team as a sophomore. Her talent was rewarded with the honor of co-UW Freshman of the Year alongside Marisa Brown.
“That was really a big honor,” Lindenmuth said. “I was really surprised, and it was really a cool thing as a freshman.”
Lindenmuth got off to a fast start in her freshman campaign. In last year’s Rocky Rococo Classic, she recorded the game-winning goal against Davidson. She attributes this early success to her added confidence throughout all of last season.
“That was really early in the season. I think that was right when I started to kind of feel comfortable,” Lindenmuth said. “It made me feel comfortable on the team. It was kind of like the beginning of the whole season, so that was kind of my breakthrough goal.”
While her freshman campaign was rather remarkable, Lindenmuth still feels she has a lot of work to do, particularly with her defensive skills.
“I’m definitely more of an up-field forward,” Lindenmuth remarked through her laughter. “Obviously I can always work on defending and going back.”
Lindenmuth put in her dues this summer, playing for the Chicago Cobras of the Premier Women’s Soccer League. She took the time to correct some of the flaws that still persist in her play.
“That was a great experience. I mean, it was really top-notch competition and there’s a lot of really great players on the team,” Lindenmuth said. “It can only make you a better player to play against players that are better than you, so it taught me a lot of good experiences — a lot of fun, hard work.”
Aside from simply staying active in soccer over the off-season, Lindenmuth had the rare occasion of playing with Badger teammate Jenny Kundert on the Cobras. During this past summer, the two created a strong bond and Lindenmuth feels they play better together as a result.
“It was great being able to play with Jenny. She stayed with me a lot of the summer. We got really close,” said Lindenmuth. “I mean, it helps us a lot on the field — we understand each other and how we play. It was great. She was a lot of fun to play with.”
Lindenmuth’s hard work has paid off this season as she has stepped up as one of the leaders for the youthful Badgers. She currently leads the team with five assists and is second in goals with three. This past weekend against Northwestern, Lindenmuth recorded a pivotal assist to Molly Meur that tied the game at one, helping the Badgers to eventually post a 2-1 win.
Despite a somewhat disheartening start to the Big Ten season, Lindenmuth believes the team is back on track with their most recent victory and has high expectations for the remainder of the season.
“I feel good about the rest of our season,” Lindenmuth said. “I mean, we play some good teams still, but we’re going to push to improve. I feel good about it. We’re hosting the Big Ten tournament, so that’s really exciting for us. We want to make sure we get into that and represent well and play well on our home field.”
