Coming off an explosive offensive showing against Indiana last Sunday, the lady Badgers return home this weekend for a pair of Big Ten matches. The squad faces a pair of desperate teams as the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes make the trek to Madison this weekend.
The Badger’s open their weekend set with a game against Minnesota on Friday. The Minnesota game will also be the opening match in the newfound “Border Battle” series between the schools.
Minnesota enters the game 3-8-0, 0-6-0 in the Big Ten, while enduring a seven game losing streak. With the Big Ten tournament just weeks away, the Gophers are in desperate need of a win to keep their tournament dreams alive. The desperation is something head coach Dean Duerst is prepared for.
“I think they’re a younger team,” Duerst said. “And when you’re a younger team you don’t have the realization of the magnitude of the tournament. Last weekend I think our girls really realized that they needed those wins against Purdue and Indiana. And that’s the attitude you have with a veteran team.”
With youth comes difficulty in scoring, an area the Gopher’s have struggled in all year. With junior goalkeeper Molly Schneider, a transfer from UW-Milwaukee, leading the defense, Duerst is planning on using his offense as his best defense against the Gophers.
“I think this past weekend we really showed we can hold the ball in the opponents’ defensive end,” Duerst said. “We’ve moved Stacy Omundson into the starting defensive line now that she’s back from injury, and that has allowed us to move Molly (Meuer) into the midfield which has helped out our offense. With the youth they have on defense we feel if we can move the ball around enough we’ll be able to find some open shots.”
Sunday, the Badgers face another troubled squad in the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes enter the weekend with a 0-8-2 record, 0-5-1 in the Big Ten. Much like Minnesota, Iowa has found it difficult to find goals this year. The Hawekeyes have scored a total of only five on the year, but have gotten terrific play from senior goaltender Britta Vogele.
Vogele currently leads the Big Ten in saves, averaging seven a game. Though Vogele is having a tremendous year, Iowa has also allowed the most goals in the conference with 16 allowed in six games, including a six-goal outburst by Northwestern and a four-goal game by Michigan. With little defensive help in front of her, coach Duerst plans to attack Vogele with a flurry of crossing passes.
“When you’re playing against a goalie like the player Iowa has you really have to neutralize the goalie’s ability to react,” Duerst said. “You can do that with crossing passes through the box and with corner kicks. The whole idea is to make the goalie cover the entire goal, something that’s difficult for any goalie to do, and eventually put the ball in just out of her reach.”
