[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]After playing non-conference foe Green Bay last night, the Badgers look to regain their winning form Sunday by hosting the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes (6-7-2; 3-5-0 Big Ten) are coming off an upset win over then-No. 24 Minnesota last Sunday, recording a weekend split after falling to top-ranked Penn State in a tough 1-0 loss.

Leading the way for Ohio State is freshman standout Lisa Collinson. Collinson has registered 11 goals, making her the top-scoring freshman in the Big Ten. The freshman's 11 tallies is half of Ohio State's total output this year (22) and is just two goals away from tying teammate Lara Dickenmann's record for goals in a season (13).

"She's having a good year up top for [Ohio State]," assistant coach Nick Carlin-Voigt said. "She's a sneaky player who likes to go one-on-one. I think we have seen some really good players this year like [Tiffany] Weimer from Penn State. If we are covering our back four and have good balance and communication, we'll be able to stop her."

Wisconsin is lead by seniors Amy Vermeulen and Katy Lindenmuth, who have scored five goals apiece on the season. Vermeulen, who has also dished out three assists, leads Wisconsin in points with 13 and also has a team-best 44 shots. In net, sophomore Lynn Murray has 55 saves in 12 games of action.

"It's really frustrating; I can't emphasize that enough," Murray said. "We were reading the Purdue website [Tuesday] and the whole site pretty much talks about how we should have won the game. It's good to see because they know we should have won too, but, at the same time, it's nice to get some credit. It's so frustrating knowing that we are a good team and can't get the results we want."

After this weekend, Wisconsin will travel to Northwestern for its final conference game before hosting Colorado College in non-conference action. For the Badgers, these next two conference games could determine if they get to play in the postseason.

"All these games are must wins now," Murray said. "I am pretty sure that every person on the team, including the coaches, has been through the numbers trying to figure out what we have to do to still get in the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament. … We have to win out, even just to go into the conference tournament with some kind of confidence because our confidence is really hurting right now."

Wisconsin leads the all-time series with Ohio State 6-5-3. Last year, UW attempted 12 shots, but couldn't break through as the two squads battled to a 0-0 tie in Madison. This season, Wisconsin has played in seven overtime games with five of those going to double-overtime. The Badgers have also been on the short end of close games, going 3-7 in one-goal matches.

"Ohio State is one of our biggest rivals," Carlin-Voigt said. "We look forward to beating them this year and we can basically only worry about our last two Big Ten games. We need to take care of our business. One of the focuses on our season has been Ohio State. At the same time, we don't want to put too much pressure on the girls so they don't play tight. It's about us, and if we finish our chances and play like we're capable of, I think we'll be happy after 90 minutes."