The Badgers will host No. 25 Ohio State (10-2-1, 3-1-0) Friday night at the McClimon Soccer Complex, followed by a Sunday afternoon’s Senior Day showdown against Penn State (7-5-1, 3-1-0).
Riding a two-game win streak after shutting out Illinois 1-0 last Sunday, the Badgers are looking to continue their recent success and begin a climb into the national rankings. To do so, the team will have to maintain its current pattern of clutch play. Sophomore forward Laurie Nosbusch has been particularly impressive in recent late-game situations, having scored the game-winning goal in each of the team’s last three victories.
“Obviously, I attribute it to my teammates,” Nosbusch said of her recent late-game success. “Those three goals I scored, … there were great passes that set up a chance for me. But then, also I would just say working hard, doing some extra training with one of our assistant coaches, Tim [Rosenfeld].”
Head coach Paula Wilkins also noted in her Monday press conference that Nosbusch has benefited from the return of freshman Paige Adams from an injury and the fact Nosbusch no longer needs to wear a face mask to protect her nose following a recent injury.
Coming off two home victories against Big Ten opponents Iowa and Northwestern last weekend, Ohio State is also looking to ascend to the upper tier of the national rankings. Led by senior goalkeeper Lauren Robertson, who holds the second-best goals against average of 1.36 per game in school history, and freshman forward Lauren Granberg, one of the team’s co-leaders in goals scored, the Buckeyes have done more than just live off their reputation.
Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions have a three-game win streak going into Friday’s matchup at Minnesota. Penn State has been led by junior forward and reigning Big Ten Tournament Offensive MVP Danielle Toney, who leads the team with seven goals and four assists.
“Their reputation precedes them,” goalkeeper Michele Dalton said of both Ohio State and Penn State. “They are definitely always at the top of the conference, and they use that to their advantage. That’s not to take away from their abilities as a team, but I think a lot of teams are intimidated, … but we have that element of surprise going for us, as well as home-field advantage.”
While practices and preparations for this weekend have been no different from the rest of the season, Wilkins has made it clear to her team where they stand and where they need to go.
“We’ve been harping on the stuff that we’ve been harping on all year,” Wilkins said of this week’s practices. “We just want to be better and more efficient at it. With our team defending, that means each individual has to do their job and we have to defend together as a team, and I think that’s going to be important. We have to be better at connecting passes — especially in transition — so these are things we’ve been working on all year. … Now we’ve got to make sure we do it in the game.”
However, with only five games remaining and the team’s four seniors in Ashley Hedges, Stephanie Krombach, Krista Liskevych and Whitney Owusu playing their last home game as a Badger Sunday, Wisconsin knows that now is the most critical time of all to come up big.
“They’re both, definitely, two of the best competitors in the Big Ten,” Dalton said of this weekend’s opponents. “I think we’re going to pose some major problems for them, and I think, on the reverse, they’re going to have some problems for us. I think with our success that we’ve had this year, … we’re going to be successful this weekend, with both teams.”
