[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Amy Vermeulen proved she was ready to play this weekend. The senior captain led the No. 25 Badgers (3-0-1) with three goals, as the Badgers went undefeated against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Vermeulen’s first goal was delivered against Oklahoma last Friday. Vermeulen’s goal came at 27:19 in the first half off an assist from junior Allison Preiss.

During the first period, Wisconsin out-shot the Sooners 8-3, but maintained only a slim 1-0 advantage.

In the second half, Vermeulen used a penalty kick at the 59:00 minute-mark to add another point to the scoreboard and give the Badgers a 2-0 lead. Vermeulen’s penalty goal attempt was the only shot for the Badgers during the second period.
“Amy is the type of player that is going to get five or six shots a game,” Wisconsin head coach Dean Duerst said. “She does a great job with the ball, and we do a good job of using her.”

The Badgers ended their game against the Sooners with a 2-0 victory. It was the second shutout this season for sophomore goalkeeper Lynn Murray.

“It’s hard to not feel happy about a win, but that was not our best game,” Duerst said. “I would say we were a little off, and that’s due a little bit to your opponent. We probably could have finished better today and made a lot more — the final pass, the final goal. Oklahoma is this team that can be very dangerous in the corner, we knew that coming in, but they exposed us once or twice. But, it never broke down the team. Overall, team defense was pretty good today.”

“It’s very nice to pick up the win,” Vermeulen said. “We can play better, though, and we know that. So even though we won, which is always good, we can learn from it.”

Though down two starters, Wisconsin carried the momentum from its first weekend victory to its game Sunday afternoon against Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys struck early in the first half to send the game into a 1-0 Oklahoma State advantage at halftime.

During the second half, Vermeulen and the Badgers quickly struck back. With the momentum shifting towards the net, Preiss quickly delivered a pass to freshman Elise Weber, who kicked the ball over to the back post, where Vermeulen headed it in to the net to knot the contest at 1-1.

The remainder of the second period would go scoreless. The Badgers and the Cowboys continued to battle through two overtime periods, but neither was able to break the deadlock, ending in a 1-1 tie.

“As a group, I don’t think it was our best effort,” Duerst, said. “It is always tough to tie. It was a very exciting game and both teams could have won it. Our first-half performance was a level down and it affected the outcome of the game. We need to learn from that. We definitely came back in the second half and played with a lot more energy. It was a great battle.”

“[From this game], we learned that it is going to be a really physical season,” Vermeulen said. “Every game is going to be like this. It’s going to be tight and it’s going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy. I think we have to go into every game [knowing] that it is going to be hard and knowing that we are going to have to put everything into it. We just have to put this game behind us and move on.”

Wisconsin will next play at the Portland tournament, where they are scheduled to face No. 7 Portland (4-0-0) on Sept. 9 and No. 20 Washington (0-2-2) on Sept. 11.

Last weekend, Washington lost to San Diego State, 1-0, and tied with Pacific in double overtime, 1-1, while Portland beat San Diego State 3-0 and Pacific 2-0.