Wisconsin women's soccer coach Dean Duerst addressed the media Monday at the UW Department of Athletics weekly press conference. Duerst talked about the team's Big Ten opener with Illinois and Iowa this weekend, the depth and experience of the returnees, what he has seen out of the newcomers and the situation of having two qualified goalkeepers.

Opening Statement: "I want to say good luck to Coach Bret (Bielema). I think if we can have defense like his, we'll be doing fine this weekend. I think that's one thing we've got going for us, is we have two accomplished goalkeepers, and either one is a starter in our program. That is Lynn Murray, who kind of came back from an injury in the first game and got a nice shutout for us yesterday against Kentucky, and then Stefani Szczechowski, a senior captain for our program.

"We're certainly led by our senior, Kara Kabellis. We missed her dearly on Friday night, and she showed why on Sunday by scoring the game-winner. She just has a presence in our program and our team, is a two-time All-Big Ten player, and just the go-to player for us. 
"But I think overall, what I'm excited about is we're getting numerous points from numerous players. Taylor Walsh right now is a sophomore and leads us. We had a freshman score a nice goal, Krista Liskevych, and Marissa Sarkesian, a transfer from Texas A&M has a couple points for us, a couple goals, and Allison Preiss and Elise Weber are also contributing. So we've got some go-to players offensively this year for us, and kind of led in the back by Natalie Horner and Ann Eshun, who Ann is really helping us also in terms of a defender that can serve the ball and get some good assists for us.

"When you look at our conference, there are some teams that just haven't really played that tough of opponents, so the records really look good. Then there's a team like Illinois, who we face, or Penn State. Illinois is 4-4. Penn State is like 3-2. You know, we've all played some really tough matches in hopes to prepare us for our game.

"I think our two ties, one against at Nebraska and one at Pepperdine, were games that we kind of let get away from us. We were leading and they scored in the last ten minutes of each of those, and it's been an issue we've dealt with and we're going to get better at. It's those critical moments in soccer. In our game right now, I see on national level, one goal is huge right now. So that's us for right now."

QUESTION #1: Dean, could you tell us a bit more about Kara, what makes her so good'

DUERST: "Well, she loves Italy. She loves the Italian men's soccer team. She's so passionate about the game, and so she's watching the game, but her background, her father was a basketball coach, and she's just an all-around athlete. She's tall but she's very gifted with the ball at her feet. And when you get that combination, opponents can't take the ball off of her very well. She runs through plays, which, with her size, is very useful. And she can sombrero people. She can nutmeg them.

"She's got a creative flair to her game, and she also can strike the heck out of a ball. She is, in essence, much like (Amy) Vermeulen from last year who could hit a ball like a man, we say, but on the female side, she's also just instinctive in her game, and there's not an opponent coach that won't try to man mark her or put two players on her, especially on free kicks and set plays."

QUESTION #2: Sombrero and nutmeg'

DUERST: "You know those terms' The sombrero is a flick over the defender's head, and the nutmeg is you put it between their legs, it 's the five hole in hockey."

QUESTION #3: And playing at home too to get started here, you 've been home now the last week, but that's got to help and, you know, back-to-back matches against pretty good teams.

DUERST: "It's nice not to have to travel this weekend, and in particular to kick off the Big Ten. Illinois has had a very tough schedule. They lost three games in a row, which was surprising, and yet they ended up on Sunday beating Utah, which was a great win for them. They lost a tough one in overtime to Saint Louis the other night, and they got blown out by Missouri. So Illinois is a team that, 5-0 against Missouri, they 're sort of trying to find themselves a little bit.

"I think we're similar in terms of just not being able to seal out some of our victories with those ties. Friday night's game will be just very exciting. They 're a powerful, exciting, attacking team, and I match our attacking play with theirs for sure. One of the things we do very well is we get a lot of chances on goal."

QUESTION #4: You were talking about how one goal in this season and probably the last few are so important. Now some people will say, one goal in a soccer match, how exciting is that. That's not necessarily the case, right '

DUERST: "Well, that's true. And some of the separation I think comes where teams that can put a couple in.  We were down 2-0 against Creighton and scored three in 10 minutes, and that was a little more exciting than the 1-0 game. But even in yesterday's match, it was 1-0. Kentucky almost scored in the last minute; they hit the post. We had one cleared off the line. We had another sitter that could just kind of, in hockey you say just didn't put their stick on the ice.

"Soccer is one of those games. Its beauty sometimes is within the play and the combination play and the passing and all of the different skill that occurs. And then again, those free kicks and set plays are really what make a difference in our game a lot of times, and that's just when you ask for special players to step up. Elise Weber is serving great corners for us. She's taking over Vermeulen 's role in that. We are going to get some goals off of that, but part of the game is the beauty and the buildup of play."

QUESTION #5: You mentioned your two goaltenders, both of whom you believe could start for you. How do you plan to manage, you know, who plays and how much time they both see'

DUERST: "Good question. That is really important actually. That was why it was important to give Lynn Murray an opportunity this Sunday. Two weeks ago when we went to Santa Barbara and then played Pepperdine. Szczechowski really, really had a great Friday-night game, and she was just confident and ready to go for Sunday, so we just went ahead with Stefani in goal.

"But looking at the future, knowing, hey, this next weekend, Missouri, Kentucky, let 's probably split the keepers as long as they both train well. And ultimately we can do that in our game in soccer, especially with keepers, how they're doing in training.

"I've talked to Mark Johnson before about goalkeeper situations or Mike Eaves, and they 've had to deal with that too, so it's just good to hear what other coaches think about when you're making some of these decisions. Maybe one will rise to be that number one, but right now the team has very, very much confidence in both those goalies."

QUESTION #6: You mentioned you had a lot of players that were capable of scoring, but do you have, have you established a go-to scorer when you absolutely need one goal down the end'

DUERST: "Right now I think Taylor Walsh is giving us the very best looks in terms of that situation. She's getting us those looks and yesterday had a great run, had a great opportunity and just didn't find the back of the net. Partly it was due to their goalie was fabulous yesterday. She had four shutouts in a row coming into the game. And Taylor seems to be a player like that, but really we have to rely more than just on that one.

"Last year Amy kind of stepped it up. Taylor so far has stepped it up. But really what I want is Taylor, Kara, Krista, who's a new freshman, she's getting shots. She's becoming dangerous. And I think any of these can really step up. And Kara is just going to help us. She's going to find ways to get goals for us, so I want one of these other two players to kind of step it in."

QUESTION #7: You're picked to finish eighth (in the Big Ten). I'm sure your young ladies have seen that too. Do you just say, yeah, fine, and just go and play'

DUERST: "Under the radar somewhat. The last few years in our conference, again, have been the story of parity, from everybody knows Penn State is number one and then how does everybody else shake out. Last year Illinois beat us in overtime, 1-0. Penn State beat us in overtime 2-1.

"But then you go into your tournament and you say, well, Wisconsin wins the Big Ten tournament. So, where were we picked the last year'  Maybe sixth. And I feel as though, you know, that's fine for right now. Like Bret said, you've got to get the job done on the field."

QUESTION #8: You mentioned how you talked to Coach Johnson and Coach Eaves about the goaltenders. I know it's a different sport, but how much do you see sort of a relation between the goalkeeping' It's interesting to me that you would consult them for that.

DUERST: "Well, goalkeeping is a lot of mental sharpness and mental toughness. You train your skills, you prepare yourself for shots, but it also gets a feeling of just being hot, being in a zone in terms of your goalkeepers. And building confidence in your goalkeepers is very important, so how are you going to do that.

"You've got to give them minutes, and you've got to be able to share the load somewhat and maybe ultimately then pick that hot keeper as Mark did with (Jesse) Vetter towards the end of that season, and she was given opportunities to build confidence. That's what we're trying to do with both our keepers.

"That kind of insight is just, you know, what you do with, whether there are hockey or other soccer coaches around or Coach Rohrman, I mean, they've been able to establish a one goalie for a number, for a few years here. We've been able to utilize two due to injuries and keeping them both ready. A keeper needs that kind of game time to establish some of their confidence, and that's what we needed to do for Lynn Murray."