The postseason starts Wednesday for the Wisconsin women’s soccer team as they take on Illinois — whom they just tied this past Friday — in the Big Ten tournament this Friday.

Even though Illinois (10-7-2, 5-6-2 Big Ten) is ranked significantly lower than UW (15-2-2, 9-2-2 Big Ten), and finished with a conference record near the .500 mark, Illinois put up a fight last weekend and tied the conference’s No. 2 seed Wisconsin in what ended up being a scoreless match.

Despite UW outshooting the Fighting Illini 10-3, sophomore goaltender Claire Wheatley stayed strong and shut out the Wisconsin frontline. The Badger defense obviously succeeded as well, adding another shutout to its repertoire for a grand total of 14 throughout this regular season, though reports from the game suggest that the windy weather conditions played a part in the lack of offense generated by either team.

It may seem like a slight advantage this time around that the Illini won’t be playing in front of their home crowd. According to UW head coach Paul Wilkins, however, that might not make a difference, as the Big Ten tournament will be held at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana.

“Any time you get to play in front of your home crowd there’s a positive effect, but these Big Ten games, the margin for error is so narrow, I think home or away right now, it doesn’t have much effect,” Wilkins said.

Furthermore, while a tie may seem like a neutral enough outcome for the two teams to be coming off of headed into playoffs, it could easily have very different effects on the two programs.

After struggling with many conference rivals throughout the regular season, Illinois might have more momentum to gain off the draw than UW. In fact, the Illini have only seen one win in the last month, and only racked up half as many shutouts as UW throughout the regular season, making a 0-0 tie feel a bit more victorious for Illinois.

On the other hand, Illinois was only the fourth team this season that Wisconsin failed to trump, most likely leaving the UW roster somewhat frustrated, especially considering Illinois is seeded at No. 7 for the Big Ten tournament. And after working as hard as they have throughout the last year, the Badgers had hopes, and maybe anticipations, that Friday’s game would finish slightly more in their favor.

But, as redshirt senior Kodee Williams said earlier this season, “Anything can happen in the Big Ten,” and that especially holds true in postseason play.

Despite finishing with a similar record last year, Illinois advanced to the third round in the NCAA tournament, eventually falling to Boston College in a 4-1 loss, though the Illini outshot their opponent 24-13, again sending a message that they can hold their own against the tougher competition.

Additionally, Big Ten postseason awards were just announced recently, and some big titles were handed out to both Wisconsin and Illinois players, showcasing the talent that both programs will be bringing back to Wednesday’s matchup.

Illinois forward Jannelle Flaws received the Big Ten’s Forward of the Year award for the second year in a row, and it’s hard to argue that it should’ve gone to anyone else.  The redshirt senior finished the regular season leading the conference in overall shots (101), points (37) and goals (17), even finishing fourth in the country in goals. Last weekend alone, Flaws racked up four of her team’s 11 shots against Wisconsin, one of the three that were on net.

Across the border, Wisconsin saw some honors as well, the biggest of which went to its much-deserving goaltender. Redshirt senior Genevieve Richard was named the conference’s Goaltender of the Year after finishing the regular season with the lowest goals-against average (.37), the highest save percentage (.903) and the most shutouts (14).

Additionally, Richard was given First Team All-Big Ten honors, along with teammates Rose Lavelle, Kinley McNicoll and Cara Walls.

These awards were just the icing on the cake for UW, who have been reaping the benefits of their hard work during the off-season throughout the last couple months.  Richard talked last week about what these successes and titles could mean as her team heads into the playoffs.

“I think we’ve proved to ourselves that we can [win the tournament],” Richard said.  “Not only do we believe that we can do it, but we’ve performed, and we’ve improved on a consistent basis.  We know we can back it up.”

Still lingering in the back of the Badgers’ minds is last year’s Big Ten tournament, when they were surprisingly eliminated in the first round and sent home much sooner than anticipated. Richard said that experience left a bad taste in their mouths — one that the Badgers are eager to get rid of.

“This year, our mindset is different,” Richard said. “Everyone believes we can outperform and if we bring a collective effort, I know we can go far.”

The No. 2 Badgers will take to the pitch against the No. 7 Illini at 3:30 p.m. (CST) Wednesday from West Lafayette.