Nov. 2, 2011
5 Minnesota 2, 4 Wisconsin 0
Lakeside Field • Evanston, Ill. | |
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| 1st | 2nd | Final | Minnesota
| 2 | 0 | 2 | Wisconsin
| 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | Scoring | | MINN | 3:32 | Taylor Uhl (Shari Eckstrom) | | MINN | 10:59 | Marissa Price (Corner Kick) | | | Goalkeepers | Min | GA | Sv | | MINN | Cat Parkhill | 90:00 | 0 | 1 | | WIS | Michele Dalton | 90:00 | 2 | 3 | | | Stats at a Glance | MINN | WIS | | Shots | 9 | 9 | | Shots on Goal | 5 | 1 | | Saves | 1 | 3 | | Offsides | 3 | 4 | | Corner Kicks | 3 | 10 | | Yellow Cards | 0 | 0 | | Red Cards | 0 | 0 | | |
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• Final Stats | Final Stats 
EVANSTON, Ill.-- The fourth-seeded Wisconsin women's soccer team was unable to come back from an early deficit as it fell in the first round of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament to fifth-seeded Minnesota, 2-0, in Evanston, Ill., on Wednesday night.
"The effort was there I think getting caught with those two goals early was challenging for us," Wisconsin head coach Paula Wilkins said. "The first was a bad touch just not paying attention to the wind that actually put a Minnesota player through. And then giving up a corner kick where they end up scoring a goal right from it was deflating.
A huge credit to the [Wisconsin] players they never stopped I thought they battled through the wind and actually got some chances at the end of the first half, but struggled with the wind and the turf, and that combination just wasn't very successful for us tonight."
The wind had a significant impact on the game as both teams had to deal with wind gusts between 20-25 mph. Minnesota took advantage as it started the game with the wind at their its, which helped lead to their two early goals.
"We talked about hitting a lot more diagonal balls so they wouldn't run out of bounds," Wilkins said. "We had to many vertical balls still and the wind would just pick up the pace of the ball. It resulted in a lot of goal kicks for them instead of us getting stuff on frame."
Minnesota's first goal came in the fourth minute of the game after senior Shari Eckstrom flicked the ball, off of a deflection, to freshman Taylor Uhl who turned and shot the ball towards the upper right corner of the Wisconsin goal. Wisconsin goalkeeper Michele Dalton was unable to make the diving save as the wind helped drive the ball into the upper part of the net.
The goal was Uhl's 14th goal of the season, and it gave Minnesota the game's early momentum.
The Gophers' second goal of the half came in the 11th minute off of their second corner kick. Junior Marissa Price shot came from the left corner and bent directly into the goal near the back post to beat Dalton. It was Price's first goal of the season.
Almost the entire first half was played in Wisconsin territory as the Badgers were outshot, 8-3.
The Badgers got the benefit of the wind in the second half, but were unable to capitalize. The Golden Gophers hindered the Badgers offense by utilizing a more defensive alignment than they used in the first half.
"Minnesota in the second half got a lot of people behind the ball and played with only one forward up top," Wilkins said. "It was going to be hard to break them down in terms of that and we needed to get wider and we didn't."
It wasn't until the 84th minute when Wisconsin's offense began to show life when senior Laurie Nosbusch recorded the only shot on goal of the night for the Badgers.
The late offensive spark was too little too late and the Badgers ended up falling to the Gophers to finish their season with a 10-8-3 (5-4-2) record.
