In a chippy match, the No. 12 Wisconsin women’s soccer team (11-2-1, 5-2-1 Big Ten) fought the Iowa Hawkeyes (9-4-1, 4-3-1 Big Ten) to a double overtime 0-0 tie.
Coming off of a scoreless outing last Sunday against Penn State, the Badgers looked determined to set the tone with an early goal. Coming out of the gate with an aggressive attack, the Badgers never hesitated to take a high-risk, high-reward cross into the middle of the box from long range.
The first ten minutes consisted mostly of the Badgers’ offense dominating possession on the attacking half. The Hawkeyes, however, were ready to pounce on any errant pass, and did an effective of job of taking the opportunities they had to create a breakaway chance for themselves.
The first legitimate opportunity for Iowa came 10 minutes in when a header on a breakaway chance soared into the box, but despite the promising look, redshirt senior goalkeeper Genevieve Richard was quick to get to it first and squander any potential knock-in. It was one of the many times Iowa required Richard to be on her toes in the first half, but despite the multiple chances to score, the Hawkeyes failed to truly test the keeper with a close shot in the first half.
Wisconsin’s first big scoring chance came soon after in the 13th minute on a shot from an unlikely boot by junior defender Molly Laufenberg. Despite shooting it from long range, her shot from the left side crossed through the defense, catching Iowa goalie, junior Hannah Clark, off guard, but the ball barely missed and hit the top post.
Richard tallied three saves on the night in addition to recognizing and eliminating several passes that Iowa could’ve fired dangerous shots off of. On corner kicks, Iowa struggled to find a spot in the box that Richard couldn’t get to first, and Richard commented on the effectiveness of Wisconsin’s defense on set pieces.
“When you see that teams modify their corners when they play against you, that’s always a good sign,” Richard said. “We’ve been pretty solid so far defensively, and if teams are saying not to shoot up top, that’s great because it means we proved a point.”
The remainder of the first half consisted of squandered opportunities by both teams, most notably by the Badgers after multiple free looks in the box were off target. An almost certain goal by Wisconsin came in the 28th minute after a cross from sophomore midfielder Rose Lavelle connected with redshirt junior midfielder Kodee Williams in traffic, but Clark narrowly saved the shot off the foot of Williams.
The half ended with a close call for the Badgers after a long pass connected with Iowa’s Cloe Lacasse and beat the entire UW back line for a one-on-one shot that found the net, but the line referee called her offside, nullifying the goal. The first half ended with a 0-0 tie, extending the Badgers’ scoring drought to three halves of play.
Despite their struggles, Williams thought the team kept up a high intensity on offense, and for the most part, did what they could with their chances to score.
“I think we followed up some good shots. I think sometimes we don’t take our half-chances if we’re around the top of the box, we’re waiting for that perfect opportunity where we can see the goal,” Williams said. “We need to just take every chance we have because they’re pretty rare.”
Both teams began the second half with the same aggressive approach, looking for chances off of long crosses. The first close opportunity for either team in the second half came when a shot by UW freshman forward Becca Harrison from 20 feet out on the left side was barely knocked away from the diving Clark.
After a series of missed opportunities by both sides, the last major chance for a Badgers goal in regulation came in the 78th minute. After a steal by senior forward Cara Walls, she misplaced a pass to Williams who could not put a good foot on the ball and her shot was easily saved.
Neither team could convert a goal in the final 12 minutes and the two teams went to overtime.
Desperation for a defining goal showed for Wisconsin at the start of overtime, as Lavelle almost ended the game two minutes into the period with a long-range shot that sailed just over the net to the disbelief of the UW bench.
After dominating possession in Iowa’s half of the field, the Badgers eventually gave the Hawkeyes a breakaway on offense, which ended with a closely contested, but deflected shot that forced an unsuccessful corner. Neither team could find the net at the end of ten minutes, pushing the game into a last-chance double overtime scenario.
Head coach Paula Wilkins said she believes the lack of goals came from an inability to capitalize, but the offense otherwise hasn’t missed a beat in recent games. Wisconsin’s offense fired off 18 total shots on the night compared to Iowa’s 10.
“I thought they were creating it, we just have to be a little more desperate,” Wilkins said. “I think just a little bit of a slide, a little toe-poke, a little something here is going to make a little bit of a difference.”
Just like the first overtime period, the Badgers started out with their foot on the gas. In the opening minutes, the Badgers thought they had a game-ending score from Walls, but the referee ultimately called it offside to the dismay of Wilkins. Despite dominating the last 10 minutes in shots and opportunities, the Badgers ultimately failed to score. Iowa was unable to connect for a score in the 110 total minutes as well, resulting in a tightly contested 0-0 draw.
The Badgers will be back on the pitch Oct. 12, as they hit the road to take on Northwestern at 1 p.m.