Badgers head to Northwestern for regular season finale
October 30, 2009 | Women's Soccer
The Wisconsin women's soccer team will finish off its regular season in Evanston today as they face Northwestern. With postseason hopes on the line, the Badgers look to end on a win in their final game as they sit at sole position of third place in the Big Ten behind Penn State and Ohio State.
This Week at a Glance
Wisconsin vs. Northwestern- Monday, Nov. 2 @ 7 p.m. | Live stats | Live Stream | Lakeside Field | Evanston, Ill.
About the series
The Badgers lead the all-time series against Northwestern with a 12-5-0 record and are tied 2-2 in the last four meetings. Last year Wisconsin fell in its final game of the season 0-1 to the Wildcats.
The last time Wisconsin beat Northwestern in Evanston was in 2005 as the Badgers shutout the Wildcats 1-0 on Oct. 28.
Badger notes
The Badgers sit in sole possession of third place, six points behind co-leaders Penn State and Ohio State. Wisconsin will be the first team in the league to close out its regular season as the rest of the Big Ten concludes league play through Nov. 6-8. The Badgers clinch sole possession of third place with a win against the Wildcats. With a tie, the Badgers could share third place if Minnesota and Purdue win out. With a loss, the Badgers could fall to as low as fifth place, depending on how the rest of the teams finish.
Wisconsin is 4-1-4 in the Big Ten marking its best conference record since 2004, putting them in sole possession of third place, a vast improvement from its 10th place finish last season. UW’s 16 points (three points for a win and one for a tie) are the most since the 2004 season when UW finished with a 5-4-1 record (16 points) when they tied for fifth in the Big Ten.
With only one game left in the regular season, Wisconsin is one win away from matching its win total from a year ago with nine. A win over Northwestern would match the total number of conference wins from the last two seasons combined.
Wisconsin sits at No. 32 in the latest edition of the official Ratings Percentage Index, which was released last Monday (Oct. 19) by the NCAA. That rating was before the Badgers earned a 1-0 win over Michigan State and played to a scoreless draw at Michigan.
The first and second round of the NCAA Tournament will kick off on Nov. 13 and 15 with the selection being revealed on Nov. 9. The selections will be announced live on ESPNews starting at 7 p.m. CT.
Wisconsin's tough non-conference schedule paid off in the end, going 4-1-4 in conference play and posting their best conference record under head coach Paula Wilkins. The Badgers recent success has also landed them at No. 5 in the Great Lakes Region of the NSCAA national rankings, ahead of Michigan State and Minnesota.
Wisconsin went 5-1-4 on its home field this season, dropping just one game to Minnesota in overtime. The Badgers are 3-2-1 on the road this season. UW enters its regular-season finale on a six-game unbeaten streak, which includes three road wins.
Sophomore Laurie Nosbusch leads the Badgers in every category this season after returning as the top leading scorer from a year ago. Nosbusch has six goals and four assists on the season including three game-winning goals. Nosbusch had a five-game scoring streak before the Badgers played to a scoreless draw against Michigan. She has notched points in six of the last eight games.
With all of her goals coming during Big Ten play, Nosbusch stands in second in the Big Ten for points, shots and goals during conference play while tying for first in game-winning goals.
Meghan Flannery has scored two goals this season, knocking them both in off the corner kick; one was punched in by the keeper, while the other bent in past the keeper.
Eight of UW's 18 games have gone into overtime this season, marking the program's most overtimes in a season. The Badgers hold a 2-1-5 overtime record this season after going 1-0-1 last season. Both of the overtime wins came in the second overtime period of 1-0 victories.
Nosbusch recorded her first career hat trick against Indiana on Oct. 4. It was the team's first since Taylor Walsh recorded one last year against Vermont and she is only the third Badger to record a hat trick at McClimon. Erica Handelman (1994) and Amy Vermeulen (2004) were the only priors. Handelman's hat trick also came against Indiana on Oct. 2, 1994.
Michele Dalton has made 16 starts for the Badgers including four shutouts, with a .776 save percentage and a 1.27 goals-against average. Her 76 saves ranks second in the Big Ten behind Penn State's Alyssa Naeher along with her 4.75 saves per game.
The Badgers have had a staggering 118 corner kicks through 18 games this season, including an NCAA-record 23 against Green Bay. The Badgers rank third in corner kicks behind Minnesota (125) and Ohio State (121). The Badgers 54 corners during league play, tops the Big Ten. Wisconsin tallied 99 corners in 2008.
Eleven of UW's 18 matches have been decided by one goal, including seven by the score of 1-0. The Badgers have won six and lost one by a score of 1-0. The Badgers have only scored more than one goal in a game three times this season, going 2-1 when scoring more than one goal.
UW has scored 18 goals this season and allowed 22, with 15 of those coming from ranked opponents. Nine different Badgers have scored for UW, with four Badgers netting more than one goal. Nosbusch has six while sophomores Erin Jacobsen and Meghan Flannery and freshmen Alev Kelter and Paige Adams all have two apiece.
Wisconsin went 303 scoreless minutes, the longest to start a season in program history, before netting its first goal of the season in its second overtime period against Green Bay. Since its scoreless streak, the Badgers have netted at least one goal in 13 of its last 16 games.
With a 3-2 win over the No. 19 Hoosiers on Oct. 4, Wisconsin picked up its first win against a ranked opponent this season and first under third-year head coach Paula Wilkins. The last time the Badgers defeated a ranked team was Nov. 3, 2005 against No. 20 Purdue. After dropping its first three games, UW has gone 1-3-2 against ranked opponents this season. The Badgers held teams scoreless through 327 minutes before allowing a goal since its first match of the year against No. 3 Notre Dame. The Badgers held opponents scoreless for 459 minutes at McClimon, earning four shutouts on their home field to start the season.
The Badgers have a young squad with a total of nine freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup. Four Badger freshmen have taken a starting role for Wisconsin including, Alev Kelter, Monica Lam-Feist Lindsey Johnson, and Paige Adams. Midfielder Lindsey Hamann has started in four games this season seeing action in 14. Scouting the opponent Northwestern (6-8-2, 3-3-1 Big Ten) Northwestern is coming off a big win last Thursday defeating Iowa, 2-1 in overtime. Jessica Palo scored the winning goal one minute into the overtime for Northwestern. The Wildcats travel to Minnesota before hosting Wisconsin on Monday.
Scouting the opponent
Northwestern is coming off a Friday loss against Minnesota, dropping the 1-0 overtime decision. After playing the Badgers on Monday, the Wildcats will close out its regular season against in-state rival Illinois on Friday.
Northwestern has totaled 13 goals on the season with its opponents making 21. Junior goalkeeper Carolyn Edwards has worked to keep that number low with 58 saves with three games left this season.
Senior leadership has been found in Alicia Herczeg for the Wildcats as she leads the team with five goals on the season, a career high. For the third season in a row Herczeg has started in every game.
Northwestern's former all-time leader in goals and points, Stephanie Erickson is now in her fourth year of leading the team as head coach. Erickson and the Wildcats finished the 2008 season with a 10-9-1 overall record and 5-5-0 in the Big Ten.
Up Next
The Badgers will begin the waiting game as the rest of the Big Ten finishes out their seasons next weekend. Wisconsin looks to the selection show on Nov. 9 to see if they will be entering the NCAA Tournament.
