New kids on the pitch
October 21, 2016 | Women's Soccer
Group of freshmen play essential roles in Wisconsin’s success this season
MADISON, Wis. – Flashback to around this time last year, the Wisconsin women's soccer team was hoisting their Big Ten regular-season trophy after a 1-0 win at Maryland.
Flashback to this summer, head coach Paula Wilkins was trying to figure out how to replace the seven starters that led the team to the program's first league championship in Wilkins' tenure at Wisconsin.
Enter in this year's freshman class.
"They (the freshmen) have done great," Wilkins touted. "In the first couple games of the year, you could tell they were freshmen. Their experience has gotten so much better."
But it wasn't as much of a cakewalk as was hoped, with the team experimenting with different lineups to try and find the right fit at the start of the season.
"We had people playing different roles and playing people who didn't have as much experience as the players that we had graduating. So we had to move people in different positions to figure out the right combinations, figure out how to score and figure out our identity," Wilkins said.
However, the team has now found its stride, thanks to five members of the freshman class who have proven to be an integral part of the Wisconsin soccer program.
Defender Camryn Biegalski has made an instant impact in the backfield, starting all 15 games that she has played in, and has accumulated the most minutes of game action out of her fellow freshmen.
How many minutes, you ask?
1,119 minutes.
Out of those 1,119 minutes of playing time, 88 came during a pivotal game against No. 16 Penn State.
The Nittany Lions, a team known for their powerful offensive attacks, were held to just one goal and seven total shots during the game thanks to Biegalski's efforts in the backfield.
"What [Biegalski] does really well is that she's able to get up and down the flank and be really dangerous in that way," Wilkins lauded of Biegalski's performance. "To be honest, I think she's going to get better and better and better with time and I think she might be one of the best backs in the history I've had here. I'm just excited she brings that offensive element—that really helps us moving forward."
She indeed brings that offensive element. The Lombard, Illinois, native has logged six shots, two on goal, thus far this season.
Although Biegalski gets down to business on the pitch, Wilkins also notes that she also brings an entertaining flair to her game.
"Camryn (Biegalski) has done a great job in the back, she attacks out of the back," Wilkins explains. "If you get a chance to see her play, she's fun. When she starts to run, you get excited and I only see her getting better and better."
While the Wisconsin defense has found solid contributions from Biegalski, the offense has also seen a wealth of talent come from a freshman this year.
Her name?
Dani Rhodes.
She's always seemed to have a knack for scoring goals. In fact, in high school, the 2014-15 Wisconsin Girls Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year broke her school's records for most goals scored in a game, in a season and in school history (85).
This season is no different, as the forward from Waukesha, Wisconsin ties for second on the team in goals with three this season.
But those three goals are anything but ordinary.
"Dani Rhodes has been big in some big games," Wilkins added. "Because of some setbacks with injuries, she's limited with her time but doesn't complain and comes on the field for five minutes and scores a goal. That's what you want from a player and that mentality and that has helped us be successful."
Rhodes made quite a debut in her first game donning the Cardinal and White, taking claim to Wisconsin's first goal of the season, a mere two minutes and 21 seconds into the season-opener against Illinois State. The goal proved to be impactful, giving UW the first win of the season, 1-0.
However, Rhodes' most clutch goal of the season arguably came in a game at the most crucial point of the season.
With a record of 4-4-4, the team was struggling to find their identity. On top of that, Wisconsin's upcoming opponent was border rival Minnesota, ranked eighth nationally at the time.
After a tough battle back and forth between the two teams, the game was forced to go into overtime as neither team found the back of the net in regulation.
Eight minutes into overtime Rhodes ran onto the pitch after being subbed in.
Thirty-three seconds later, Rhodes ran into the arms of her teammates after scoring the game-winning goal.
The game has been the team's signature win of the season thus far and has propelled UW to a five-game unbeaten streak, winning three and tying two.
Rhodes was also responsible for one of those draws, notching the game-tying goal against Nebraska, a team receiving votes in the latest polls, with only seven minutes left in regulation.
However, Rhodes hasn't been the only freshman to get in on the goal-scoring fun this season.
Defender Payton Wesley is one of two Badgers this season that have recorded both a goal and an assist in a game.
However, she's the only one who can say that her assist and goal came in just over a minute apart from each other.
65th minute: While being down 1-0 against Purdue midway through the second period, Wesley found Sydney McGinnis for the game-tying score from a long pass up the right side of the field.
66th minute: Wisconsin reclaimed offensive possession and Wesley recorded her first career goal on a point-blank tap-in.
While Wesley had an easy shot at the goal, midfielder Grace Bahr had it quite the opposite, punching in her first career goal in mind-boggling fashion.
Literally.
On a Wisconsin throw-in after a Loyola-Chicago foul, the Big Ten Preseason Honors listee headed off the throw, but it was just off the mark and hit the post.
Take two.
Bahr redeemed herself immediately, re-heading in her header after it rebounded off of the post.
The score gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead, and they didn't look back as they shut out the Ramblers, 2-0.
Consistency has been the name of the game for these freshmen, as they all have been able to contribute in their own respective manners to the team.
However, one is set apart for her consistency on the field: midfielder Allie Winterfield.
The Grand Blanc, Michigan native has been the only newcomer this year to have started all seventeen matches for the Badgers.
"With Allie (Winterfield), she's just really consistent. It's been fun to watch her kind of evolve as a player in her thought process, decision making and understanding our system," Wilkins said. "In the first couple of weeks, her head was swimming and now she comes off the bench and she's like, 'I got it, I got it.' It's been great to watch her do that."
Her high soccer IQ may come from her four-year playing experience with the Michigan Hawks, one of the top club teams in the Elite Clubs National League.
But along with her knowledge of the sport, Winterfield has also demonstrated confidence in the collegiate game, especially near the net, accumulating fourteen shots this season with three being on goal.
If Winterfield doesn't find the back of the net this season, watch out for her next year, along with the rest of her class.
With their first season as Badgers coming to a close, the rookies have a lot of experience to reflect on and learn from in order to come back even stronger next year.
Fans have a lot to look forward to from this group in the future, and this class hasn't even reached its full potential yet.
In the wise words of Paula Wilkins,
"It's exciting to watch them grow."
And there's so much more to come.
Flashback to this summer, head coach Paula Wilkins was trying to figure out how to replace the seven starters that led the team to the program's first league championship in Wilkins' tenure at Wisconsin.
Enter in this year's freshman class.
"They (the freshmen) have done great," Wilkins touted. "In the first couple games of the year, you could tell they were freshmen. Their experience has gotten so much better."
But it wasn't as much of a cakewalk as was hoped, with the team experimenting with different lineups to try and find the right fit at the start of the season.
"We had people playing different roles and playing people who didn't have as much experience as the players that we had graduating. So we had to move people in different positions to figure out the right combinations, figure out how to score and figure out our identity," Wilkins said.
However, the team has now found its stride, thanks to five members of the freshman class who have proven to be an integral part of the Wisconsin soccer program.
Defender Camryn Biegalski has made an instant impact in the backfield, starting all 15 games that she has played in, and has accumulated the most minutes of game action out of her fellow freshmen.
How many minutes, you ask?
1,119 minutes.
Out of those 1,119 minutes of playing time, 88 came during a pivotal game against No. 16 Penn State.
The Nittany Lions, a team known for their powerful offensive attacks, were held to just one goal and seven total shots during the game thanks to Biegalski's efforts in the backfield.
"What [Biegalski] does really well is that she's able to get up and down the flank and be really dangerous in that way," Wilkins lauded of Biegalski's performance. "To be honest, I think she's going to get better and better and better with time and I think she might be one of the best backs in the history I've had here. I'm just excited she brings that offensive element—that really helps us moving forward."
She indeed brings that offensive element. The Lombard, Illinois, native has logged six shots, two on goal, thus far this season.
Although Biegalski gets down to business on the pitch, Wilkins also notes that she also brings an entertaining flair to her game.
"Camryn (Biegalski) has done a great job in the back, she attacks out of the back," Wilkins explains. "If you get a chance to see her play, she's fun. When she starts to run, you get excited and I only see her getting better and better."
While the Wisconsin defense has found solid contributions from Biegalski, the offense has also seen a wealth of talent come from a freshman this year.
Her name?
Dani Rhodes.
She's always seemed to have a knack for scoring goals. In fact, in high school, the 2014-15 Wisconsin Girls Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year broke her school's records for most goals scored in a game, in a season and in school history (85).
This season is no different, as the forward from Waukesha, Wisconsin ties for second on the team in goals with three this season.
But those three goals are anything but ordinary.
"Dani Rhodes has been big in some big games," Wilkins added. "Because of some setbacks with injuries, she's limited with her time but doesn't complain and comes on the field for five minutes and scores a goal. That's what you want from a player and that mentality and that has helped us be successful."
Rhodes made quite a debut in her first game donning the Cardinal and White, taking claim to Wisconsin's first goal of the season, a mere two minutes and 21 seconds into the season-opener against Illinois State. The goal proved to be impactful, giving UW the first win of the season, 1-0.
However, Rhodes' most clutch goal of the season arguably came in a game at the most crucial point of the season.
With a record of 4-4-4, the team was struggling to find their identity. On top of that, Wisconsin's upcoming opponent was border rival Minnesota, ranked eighth nationally at the time.
After a tough battle back and forth between the two teams, the game was forced to go into overtime as neither team found the back of the net in regulation.
Eight minutes into overtime Rhodes ran onto the pitch after being subbed in.
Thirty-three seconds later, Rhodes ran into the arms of her teammates after scoring the game-winning goal.
The game has been the team's signature win of the season thus far and has propelled UW to a five-game unbeaten streak, winning three and tying two.
Rhodes was also responsible for one of those draws, notching the game-tying goal against Nebraska, a team receiving votes in the latest polls, with only seven minutes left in regulation.
However, Rhodes hasn't been the only freshman to get in on the goal-scoring fun this season.
Defender Payton Wesley is one of two Badgers this season that have recorded both a goal and an assist in a game.
However, she's the only one who can say that her assist and goal came in just over a minute apart from each other.
65th minute: While being down 1-0 against Purdue midway through the second period, Wesley found Sydney McGinnis for the game-tying score from a long pass up the right side of the field.
66th minute: Wisconsin reclaimed offensive possession and Wesley recorded her first career goal on a point-blank tap-in.
While Wesley had an easy shot at the goal, midfielder Grace Bahr had it quite the opposite, punching in her first career goal in mind-boggling fashion.
Literally.
On a Wisconsin throw-in after a Loyola-Chicago foul, the Big Ten Preseason Honors listee headed off the throw, but it was just off the mark and hit the post.
Take two.
Bahr redeemed herself immediately, re-heading in her header after it rebounded off of the post.
The score gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead, and they didn't look back as they shut out the Ramblers, 2-0.
Consistency has been the name of the game for these freshmen, as they all have been able to contribute in their own respective manners to the team.
However, one is set apart for her consistency on the field: midfielder Allie Winterfield.
The Grand Blanc, Michigan native has been the only newcomer this year to have started all seventeen matches for the Badgers.
"With Allie (Winterfield), she's just really consistent. It's been fun to watch her kind of evolve as a player in her thought process, decision making and understanding our system," Wilkins said. "In the first couple of weeks, her head was swimming and now she comes off the bench and she's like, 'I got it, I got it.' It's been great to watch her do that."
Her high soccer IQ may come from her four-year playing experience with the Michigan Hawks, one of the top club teams in the Elite Clubs National League.
But along with her knowledge of the sport, Winterfield has also demonstrated confidence in the collegiate game, especially near the net, accumulating fourteen shots this season with three being on goal.
If Winterfield doesn't find the back of the net this season, watch out for her next year, along with the rest of her class.
With their first season as Badgers coming to a close, the rookies have a lot of experience to reflect on and learn from in order to come back even stronger next year.
Fans have a lot to look forward to from this group in the future, and this class hasn't even reached its full potential yet.
In the wise words of Paula Wilkins,
"It's exciting to watch them grow."
And there's so much more to come.
Players Mentioned
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