Coming off a pair of losses on the west coast, the Wisconsin women’s soccer team returned home to mixed results this weekend, taking a 4-1 victory over Loyola-Chicago Friday before dropping its second game 1-0 to Illinois State Sunday afternoon.

Game One

In their first home game since students returned for the school year, the Badgers wasted little time getting the crowd into it. With junior midfielder Rose Lavelle facilitating the offense, the team scored the first of four goals in the 12th minute after senior midfielder McKenna Meuer managed to get open at the top of box and bury a shot into the lower left corner of the net for her third goal of the season. After scoring just one goal in their previous two contests going into Friday, the Badgers’ attack was in sync and just getting started.

Later in the first half, fifth-year senior forward Nikki Greenhalgh notched her first goal of the season after Loyola keeper Maddie Ford couldn’t corral the initial save and Greenhalgh knocked the ball in on the rebound. Up 2-0, the Badgers cruised through the Rambler defense for two more goals from freshman Emily Borgmann (first career goal) and Rose Lavelle (4th of the season) before the Ramblers got on the board with a penalty kick goal by Jenna Szczesny, her third goal of her season.

Still up by three goals, the Badgers subbed in some of their younger players. The win brought the Badgers’ record to 3-2, as the team avoided their first losing streak since late in the 2013 campaign.

Game 2

The Badgers had the look of a team destined to continue their scoring barrage Sunday, but after a series of near-miss shots from Rose Lavelle and missed opportunities by Greenhalgh to knock in crosses early in the game, Wisconsin set the tone for what was arguably the most frustrating showing of the season in a 1-0 loss to Illinois State.

Despite controlling the pace of the game for the majority of the contest and firing off 17 shots compared to Illinois State’s 10, something wasn’t clicking for the Badgers offense despite a handful of golden opportunities to knock in a goal.

UW head coach Paula Wilkins expressed her disappointment with her team’s inability to finish chances.

“We didn’t come out with the focus and the precision of the stuff that we needed to do. I thought we created some good chances early and we didn’t put two away in front of an open net,” Wilkins said. “For the maturity we have on this team, I would expect a little bit more discipline and focus and I think that’s our challenge moving forward.”

With the game deadlocked going into the 21st minute, Redbird midfielder Lauren Koehl decided to take matters into her own hands, making a run from midfield and firing a shot from over 30 yards out. Catching the defense off guard, the ball sailed through the box and just over the hands of the leaping Caitlyn Clem, landing in the upper left corner for a 1-0 Illinois State lead.

Despite putting 10 shots on the board in the second half, it was ultimately more of the same for a high-powered, but undisciplined, Wisconsin offense. The backline defense, anchored by seniors Brianna Stelzer and Molly Laufenberg, remained dialed-in and successful for 89 of the 90 minutes, their one lapse proved to be fatal as there was no margin for error.

The final 10 minutes offered no lack of drama, as the Redbirds dropped back to just one forward, leaning on their defense to endure a frenzy of corner kicks, through balls and near-miss headers. Coming up short, Wisconsin dropped back to 3-3 as Illinois State (2-3-1) notched their second win of the season.

Looking back on the weekend as a whole, Wilkins said the team’s shortcomings aren’t strictly on the offense.

“I still don’t think we’ve put together a team performance,” Wilkins said. “We can’t be giving up the goals that we are right now, and I think the focus next week in training will be on defending better as a group. We’re going to have to look at our shape and how to do things differently.”

The Badgers now hit the road for an extended stretch of games, not returning to the McClimon Center until Sep. 25. Next on their schedule is a trip to UW Milwaukee for a Friday night matchup, starting at 6 p.m.