Women's Soccer Falls to Hoosiers in Closing Minutes
September 23, 2001 | Women's Soccer
The No. 23 Wisconsin women's soccer team lost its second-straight home game at the McClimon Soccer Complex Sunday afternoon to the Indiana Hoosiers, 1-0. The Badgers (3-3-1) rebounded well after their 3-0 loss to Purdue Friday night, but couldn't find the back of the net for the second-straight game.
'Our players need to keep their heads up because we 're a good team and we're playing well,' coach Dean Duerst said. 'We need to continue to play our team game right now.'
Wisconsin played well in the first half, outshooting the Hoosiers 7-4 and earning five corner kicks to IU's zero corners. However, neither team could capitalize and the Badgers and Hoosiers entered halftime in a 0-0 tie.
UW outplayed Indiana (4-1-1) again in the second half, outshooting IU 10-6. Freshmen Kristen Betz (Brookfield, Wis.), who fired an excellent header on goal, Sarah Capel (New Berlin, Wis.) and senior Natalie Roedler (Mendota Heights, Minn.) each had three shots in the game.
'It's a game of golden moments and today we had a couple great opportunities and those have to be finished if this team is going to win, ' Duerst said.
With less than four minutes to play, overtime seemed immanent in the closely fought game before Indiana's golden moment came. Shelly Gruszka scored off a Kristen Sprunger pass to give the Hooisers the lead and the game.
Next weekend, the Badgers will be looking to achieve what Purdue and Indiana did this weekend and win on the road. Wisconsin travels to Michigan State and Michigan to continue Big Ten Conference play.
'We need to have some confidence going in,' Duerst said. 'What we can do is control our thoughts and our confidence. We need to focus in training and we need to be able to rebound; that's what we can control. '
The Badgers face the Spartans on Sept 28 at 3 p.m. and the Wolverines on Sept. 30 at noon.
