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Following a tough road trip last weekend, the Wisconsin women’s soccer team hosts Indiana Friday at the McClimon Soccer Complex.
Friday’s game is an important one for both teams after both started the conference season with four straight losses. The game marks the halfway point in the Big Ten season and could provide some much-needed momentum to the winning squad.
“This game could change our season if we win it,” freshman Laurie Nosbusch said. “Right now we’re trying to focus on this one game and not any of the games after. We’re just trying to focus on what we can do in this game to get better and to try to turn our season in the Big Ten around.”
Wisconsin is happy to see Indiana come to town after starting the conference season against the top four teams in the Big Ten in Purdue, Penn State, Ohio State and Illinois.
UW (6-6-1, 0-4-0 Big Ten) struggled against the elite teams in the conference, scoring just one goal while allowing 10 to its opponents. One problem that has plagued the Badgers in Big Ten play has been an inability to maintain possession.
“If we can keep the ball and make the other team chase, then that obviously works out for us,” Nosbusch said. “When we’re constantly defending and working our butts off to try to get pressure on the ball, then we get tired after a while, and they can get goals.”
For Indiana (5-8-0, 0-4-0), its defense has played well, allowing only one goal in each of their four conference games, but the offense has been shut out, leading to four consecutive 1-0 losses.
“They are very good defensively; they’re well organized and extremely hard in the back,” head coach Paula Wilkins said. “We saw them at the Indiana tournament, and I think they’ve just had some difficulty finishing off their chances because I know that they’re creating them.”
Much like the Badgers, the Hoosiers are a young team this year with no seniors on the roster and two of their three leading scorers being underclassmen. Indiana is led by junior Liz Holby and sophomore Chloe McKay, who have nine points each, and freshman Devon Beach who has tallied eight points of her own.
Indiana will be looking to bounce back from early losses this weekend against Wisconsin. After reaching the third round of last year’s NCAA tournament and being picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten by the coaches, the Hoosiers have yet to prove they’re worthy, losing five of their last six.
“[It makes you] a little bit leery, because you think that they’re kind of itching for something right now,” Wilkins said. “I think that their results haven’t been indicative of their performance.”
UW is hoping to regain the confidence it showed early in the season with a strong performance against Indiana. With only one game on the slate for this weekend, the Badgers’ sole focus is their match with the Hoosiers.
Wisconsin hopes to utilize its home field advantage by getting out in front early and using that momentum to carry the team through the rest of the game.
“I think with the home crowd and with just one game this weekend, we’ll be really focused to get it done,” freshman Leigh Williams said. “Scoring early is extremely important; I think that will set the tone and the pace for the rest of the game in our favor.”
According to Wilkins, her team needs to remember the way it played in the non-conference season and use that success to build its confidence in Friday’s game with Indiana and the rest of the Big Ten season.
“A part of it is just a belief that we can do this; we scored a bunch of goals up to now, and we need to get back on that track,” Wilkins said. “Part of that is not being apprehensive in the front third of the field and believing that we’re going to score. It’s something that we can change in just a few days so that’s a positive thing going into Indiana.”