It’s only six games into the season, but the Wisconsin women’s soccer team has already dominated each out-of-conference opponent and asserted a presence on the field that rivals won’t take lightly anytime soon.
Now, with a few confidence-boosting wins at their back, the Badgers begin conference play this weekend, as they travel to Lansing Friday night and Ann Arbor Saturday to take on Michigan State and Michigan.
“We know [the two teams] are going to be tough,” senior Kodee Williams said. “We’re going to focus our effort on that. We’re very excited.”
UW fought to an overtime victory a few weeks back against Tennessee — the first sign of a promising 2014. Then, last weekend, the Badgers secured a pair of West Coast wins when the team competed in the Husky/Nike Invitational, shutting out Washington and Portland, respectively.
The shutout of Portland was especially noteworthy since it was the first time in the last three years the Badgers have beaten a ranked opponent, the defining point of the Badgers’ currently undefeated season.
Williams had a standout weekend in Seattle, where she tallied a goal in the Washington match and a pair of assists against Portland.
The forward says the rest of the UW bench is anxious to start facing the long time conference foes.
“There’s a little sibling rivalry there obviously,” Williams said. “Every game in the Big Ten is pretty much a Big Ten Championship because all the teams are so strong.”
And looking back on the close scores from past seasons, it’s easy to see what Williams is talking about. Last year, the Badgers tied the Wolverines in a goalless game, and in 2012 triumphed over Michigan State in a 1-0 victory.
But the Badgers’ current confidence on the field could mean very different outcomes this time around. In the six games UW has played so far, the team has racked up 18 goals, but has allowed only a single goal, which came against Tennessee. With this in mind, a lot of the final scores have been quite lopsided, as was the case with the Husky Invitational when Wisconsin won by scores of 4-0 and 3-0.
Among the top point scorers for Wisconsin are senior Cara Walls and junior Kinley McNicoll, who already have a handful of goals each, while Williams and sophomore Rose Lavelle have emerged as two of the squad’s key play makers.
McNicoll and Lavelle participated in the U-20 Women’s World Cup this past summer, playing at a speed that head coach Paula Wilkins said was not only brought back with the two players, but has also transferred to the rest of the team and could be a contributing factor to the early successes.
“They bring some composure back, and I think that helps the other players,” Wilkins said of the two players.
One of the most important players on the UW team has been goalkeeper Genevieve Richard. The senior has played in all six games and is responsible for the five shutouts the team has tallied. Richard has been solid in the net for Wisconsin since the 2013 season, when she started all 19 games, and even participated in a U-20 World Cup herself back in 2012, where she represented the Canadian National team.
The two Michigan competitors will not go down without a fight, though. The Spartans have equaled Wisconsin’s start to the season with six wins of their own, racking up 14 goals themselves while allowing only four. The Wolverines have started slower, with a 4-2 start to the season but have still managed 11 goals in the six games.
As always though, Wilkins is telling her squad to focus on the weekend one game at a time, and not to let the winning streak keep them from taking each competitor seriously.
“I think it’s one game at a time right now,” Wilkins said. “The games we’ve previously played have prepared us for this, but anytime you get into Big Ten matches, especially Michigan, Michigan State on that travel weekend, they’re very hard. They’ll all be prepared and play differently, and hopefully our experience shows through.”
