The UW women’s soccer team (6-3-1, 0-3-1) heads back out on the open road this weekend. The ladies head south to the Hoosier state, where they continue conference play with matches against Purdue and Indiana.
The team is still searching for its first Big Ten victory of the season. In conference play the Badgers have had a very difficult time putting the ball in the net. They have only managed a single goal in four conference matches so far. It is not as if they have not had chances though.
“The difference [in the Big Ten] is you run into defenses that are very organized,” said head coach Dean Duerst. “We are getting good opportunities, but I think we need to get more. More than anything, each player has to step up, to be more responsible, to make sure that they’re the ones that are making runs, and they’re the ones running off the ball.”
Confidence is not a problem. The players know they can score. They scored many goals before conference play. It is just a matter of converting when you have the opportunity. You cannot miss out on scoring chances in the Big Ten.
“We’re very confident that we can score,” said Duerst. “It is just a matter of each player stepping it up a little bit more and finding more of those moments — we need to get end-line more and we need to create more corners. We did get end-line against Illinois, we did get end-line against Northwestern, just not enough. Some players on this team are in some good positions now they just have to be able to finish.”
The ladies will get their first crack at scoring some of those elusive goals against Purdue (6-4, 2-2) Friday. The Boilermakers come into the game having faced some tough foes last weekend. They played to a 1-1 tie against Ohio State, but were unable to control the steamrolling Penn State, as the Lions rolled to a 4-1 victory.
Purdue has very tough defensively, only giving up two or more goals on only three occasions so far this season.
“[Purdue] is not giving up many goals, but they aren’t scoring very many as well,” said Duerst. “Our game-plan is always to keep the ball away from them, but we have to go out and pressure them early on. We have to create corners and free kicks in and around their final third. I think we are going to get those opportunities. Purdue is a stingy defensive team. We’re just going to have to find ways to break them down.”
In their second game of the weekend, the ladies face Indiana (6-1-1, 2-1-1) Sunday. Just like the Boilermakers, the Hoosiers come into the Sunday contest having lost to Penn State and tied Ohio State the previous weekend.
The Hoosiers are led defensively by a very strong goal keeper in Lauren Fabbro. She has not allowed more than a single goal in a contest yet.
“With all very good defenders and goalies, you eliminate them with crosses,” said Duerst. “Being able to get crosses and serves that are dangerous in the box, sometimes if you are able to do that you eliminate a keepers strength — which is shot saving. You also force the defense to make very clean plays, and not allow any loose balls. That’s what we need to do to get on track a little bit better. We need to be able to serve better from wing spots and make better runs on goal.”
On offense the Hoosiers feature senior midfielder Kim Grodek. The returning first team all-Big Ten performer already has tallied 6 scores on the season including three game winning kicks.
“She has always been a good player,” said Duerst. “When you have players like that, you need to be very aware of her, you need to not give her the extra touches on the ball, keep the ball away from her side, keep a good defensive focus on her side, maybe even run some personnel [at her] so she is having multiple players guarding her. You just need to slow down a player like that. You need to be very aware of her, don’t let her have the number of chances that maybe she is used to — frustrate her.”
