No team likes losing, but most athletes would agree that it’s just as agonizing – if not more so – to have the final whistle blow without any victor crowned. That’s just what happened for the Wisconsin women’s soccer team Wednesday night, who after double overtime in what was the third game of the week, left the field exhausted and without closure after tying the University of Iowa in a scoreless game.
The No. 12 Badgers (11-2-1, 5-2-1 Big Ten) had only seen success in home games so far this season until last Sunday, when No. 6 Penn State came away from the match with a 2-0 victory. But while the score suggested an unequal matchup, the two Big Ten foes were neck and neck with shots taken throughout the 90 minutes.
Wednesday night saw a similar story. UW racked up 18 shots to Iowa’s ten, four of which came from forward Kodee Williams, who the rest of the Wisconsin bench had been attempting to hit with passes all night.
“A quote I like to use is ‘Close only counts in horseshoes in handgrenades,’ and that’s kind of what we’ve been feeling the last two games,” Williams said of the unrealized opportunities her team has been experiencing.
And after the way Wisconsin started out the season, rolling over the opposition in 3-, 4-, and 5-0 wins, the conference’s No. 4 team is most likely frustrated by being a bit stumped by the competition lately. However, Iowa goalkeeper Hannah Clark is arguably one of the best in the Big Ten, ranking closely to UW’s own Genevieve Richard in most categories.
And while the offense for UW might be seeing a brief lapse in momentum, Richard proved to be solid between the posts on Wednesday, especially after giving up two goals to the Nittany Lions on Sunday, a relatively high number for the redshirt senior who’s currently leading the conference in shutouts (8).
Even through double overtime, Richard stayed hot, despite the likely extra pressure experienced by a goalkeeper when sudden death starts.
“I wouldn’t say it’s nerve wracking, but in overtime I feel like I need to focus a little more just to make sure that I keep my clean sheet,” Richard said. “I need to give us that chance to score and win.”
The defense for the Badgers was something head coach Paula Wilkins touched on as well. Wilkins said that while her offense seemed to be shooting at a wall, defensively the UW bench improved greatly from the Penn State loss. Especially when considering that Iowa’s Cloe Lacasse, who was only allowed one shot by the Badgers, is one of the top strikers in the conference.
Offensively though, Wilkins said that the biggest issue against the Hawkeyes came down to control.
“We needed to hold a little more possession,” Wilkins said. “We gave away too many balls that weren’t necessary.”
“Sometimes we don’t take our half chances,” Williams said. “If we’re up around the top of the box we’re waiting for that perfect opportunity when we can see the goal, and we need to just take every chance we have.”
As Big Ten play continues and Wisconsin looks to move past these couple of bumps in the road on the way to the conference tournament, Wilkins sounded confident that the do-or-die atmosphere present during the end of each season might be enough to relight the fire that’s been burning under the UW bench throughout the majority of the fall.
“We just had to be a little more desperate,” Wilkins said. “I think that a little bit of a slide, a little toe poke a little something here is going to make a difference.”
