In the University of Wisconsin women’s soccer sixth overtime game of Big Ten play, Wisconsin would wind up walking away from their game with Indiana with two goose eggs on the scoreboard.
Wisconsin (9-3- 2, 3-2- 2 Big Ten) is just coming off their first win in four games before a scoreless game against the Hoosier defense in just their second tie of the season. The nine shots on goal Wisconsin had, compared to four by Indiana, however, tells a different tale than the final score.
Still, head coach Paula Wilkins believed the team created enough chances to win this game.
“That’s the game of soccer a little bit — you create enough chances and they don’t go in,” Wilkins said. “Their goalkeeper made two or three good saves and two or three off the line. That’s the way soccer goes.”
While it certainly must be deflating to end a game in a scoreless tie, the Badgers created the offensive opportunities as best they could. Unfortunately for Wisconsin, Indiana’s Bethany Kopel was stellar, notching nine saves to keep the Hoosiers in this important contest.
For this game the Badgers started with a 4-3- 3 formation in an attempt to generate more offensive production by adding an extra forward into the lineup. While the crew did get off twenty shots, none of them bounced the Badgers’ way in this matchup.
Luckily for the team, Caitlyn Clem had a dominant performance for Wisconsin in another low scoring game. In her seventh shutout of the season, Clem kept Indiana scoreless for 110 minutes. Starting defenders Sammy Kleedtke, Payton Wesley, Grace Douglas, and Camryn Biegalski also contributed, keeping the other team to fourteen shots, with only four being on goal.
Women’s soccer: Wisconsin falls to Rutgers in tight road contest
The Badgers will try to bolster their conference tournament seeding on the road before playing their final game in Madison Oct. 25 against Penn State. For Wisconsin, they play Illinois this Thursday night, followed by Northwestern and Iowa on their Big Ten road trip.
Currently at six in the conference standings, Wisconsin will need to start capitalizing on their impressive defensive production as they take this three game trip into hostile territory.
Wisconsin hits the road for a while as they visit Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa. The Badgers won’t make it back home until Oct, just shy of making homecoming weekend.
