Drawing a Line
November 13, 2014 | Women's Soccer
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Nov. 13, 2014
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com
MADISON, Wis. -- Growing up in a Montreal suburb -- Saint-Bruno, Quebec -- Genevieve Richard learned to skate but she never played competitive hockey. She did play one year of football before her dad thought it would be more prudent to concentrate on other sports.
Nonetheless, quarterback Russell Wilson would later become a role model.
As a youth, Richard gravitated to basketball and soccer and there was some crossover value athletically that translated from the paint to the pitch, namely playing goalkeeper, something the 5-foot-11 Richard has done well enough to be recognized as the 2014 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year.
Richard has made a "believer" out of a lot of people, according to her coach Paula Wilkins, who has seen her eighth team at Wisconsin do likewise by capturing it first Big Ten tournament championship since 2005 with a 1-0 double-overtime win over Iowa in the final last Sunday.
"I would say our team is composed of selfless and hardworking players," said Richard, the Defensive MVP of the tourney, "individuals that understand that they can't do it by themselves and that we need everyone in order to win. That helps in terms of unity and team chemistry."
After a disappointing 2013 season, devoid of postseason play, the Badgers have fashioned a sparkling 18-2-2 record overall and will return to the NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed with a first-round game Saturday night against undefeated DePaul (16-0-4) at the McClimon Complex.
"When I saw that we could consistently bring a collective effort and when we started to win a few games in a row," said Richard in response to a question about turning points, "that's when I started to believe that we could be good; just by seeing that consistency we had been working on for so long."
That dates back to an unceremonious ending to last season, a 2-0 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament which saddled the Badgers with a mark of 10-7-2. "That was the whole motivation," Richard said, "behind all the steps that we took to make a change."
April and May were critical in the turnaround as far as setting core values. "And motivating each other," Richard said. "The spring gets a little rough sometimes when you don't have games. It's hard to stay motivated; so the reminder of how quickly our (2013) season ended was the central motivation."
Wristbands were a nice touch over the summer and another motivator this fall because it spelled out the team's motto ("Play Big") and goal (#BTC2014), which they achieved in part last weekend by winning the league tournament title. But such things can only go so far.
"Mine broke," Richard said with a shrug. "About a month ago."
But no one has been able to break her or beat her since then. Not only has Richard accounted for 15 shutouts, tying the single season school record, but she has not given up a goal in her last 652 minutes and 24 seconds (six-plus matches) or since Oct. 18 when the Badgers won, 4-1, at Minnesota.
With Richard, a fifth-year senior, in mind, Wilkins observed, "A goalkeeper can make people believe because you can keep them (teammates) in a game where you're getting peppered because you've made big saves. In talking to Gen in the spring, I said, `You have to make them believe.'
"And I truly believe the backline believes and trusts her. She makes a lot of the hard things look simple. That's what a good goalkeeper does. She cuts off crosses, she controls the tempo of the game, she gives them information. She's like their extra set of eyes. That makes her a special goalkeeper."
Wisconsin's defense has been so suffocating -- allowing seven goals all season -- opponents have struggled to get anything on net. Richard had to make just one save against Iowa in the conference tournament championship game. So how do you stay focused as a goalkeeper?
"You sort of talk to yourself a little bit," said Richard, giggling. "That sounds silly for me. But you can tell or you can notice when you start to lose focus. What I do then, I look at my defenders. Ok, how many strikers? Where's the ball? I just try to look at coverage and specific details. That keeps me busy."
A few years ago, Richard crossed paths a few times with Russell Wilson when he was on the UW campus -- "I said, `Hi,' here and there," she said -- and she tried to go to school on some of the things that Wilson talked about in conjunction with his success as a quarterback.
"I will always remember hearing Russell Wilson saying that one of the things that he was always trying to work on was staying calm during the game," Richard said. "I've remembered that and I've tried to apply it, and I think it has really helped. Now, I'm confident but also focused."
It was not always that way. Richard didn't see any action her first two seasons. While she was adjusting to her new surroundings and the college game, Michele Dalton was anchoring the defense; she was a second-team all-conference pick in 2010 and the Big Ten's Goalkeeper of the Year in 2011.
Richard was the backup to Lauren Gunderson in 2012 and appeared in six matches (2-3-1). Last season, she took over as the UW starter and she was buoyed by some of her international exposure, including competing for the Canadian Women's National Team in the 2012 U-20 World Cup in Japan.
Quizzed on her UW timeline, she said, "It's about growth and learning."
And now it's about being a champion, a Big Ten tournament champion.
"It feels great," Richard said, "but, you see, at the same time, I think that's what we expect from Wisconsin now. I look at the (men's) cross country team that won last week. I look at the softball team that won (in the spring of 2012). I look at the volleyball team that went to the Final Four.
"I just think it's great to be part of it all. It's amazing to feel like you're contributing to the development of the program ... we have really talented players (in soccer) and it's really good see that we're all staying humble and we understand that the team not the individual is the ultimate goal."
And it increases your chances of success when you're not giving up any.
