UW dancing up a storm for NCAA tourney

Photo by: David Stluka

UW dancing up a storm for NCAA tourney

November 16, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Varsity Magazine <i class="icon-video"></i>VIDEO: Paula Wilkins <i class="icon-video"></i> Marquette Recap

Badgers travel to Florida for second round of national tournament

By: Kelli Grashel

BY KELLI GRASHEL
UW Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wis. — Facing top-seeded Florida will be no easy feat. The odds will be against the Badgers as the Gators hold home-field advantage and are a top-10 ranked team. However, opponents learned a big lesson earlier this season. Never count out Wisconsin.

"I'm really excited to be moving onto the second round of the NCAAs," head coach Paula Wilkins said. "I'm mostly excited for our players, because of the journey and the process they've gone through the last couple of games, getting better and better and better.

"As a coach, this is what you want to see from your players at this time of the year, to be moving in the right direction as a group. We're excited to go to Florida and face the competition down there. I'm excited and pleased where the group is."

Marking the program's 10th all-time appearance in the national tournament's second round, Wisconsin kicks off against top-seeded Florida in Gainesville Friday night at 6 p.m. CT. The game will also mark the first time the two programs have ever faced each other.

"They're well-organized, well-coached, athletic, and they've won a lot of big games," Wilkins said. "We have to come up with a game plan that prepares for everything that they're going to do and we're really excited about that."
Wilkins looks back to the team's game against Indiana as the tipping point of the season.

"After the debacle we had at Indiana, we took the reins and said we're going to defend as a group," Wilkins said. "One thing that people don't see in the stats is the work rate that our forwards do. Sydney McGinnis might not have as many goals as we'd want her to have right now, but the work she's doing from a defensive standpoint and the intelligence that they're playing with really helps us to defend as a group.

"Rose (Lavelle) is covering so much ground in the midfield that it has helped us defensively. It's really not just one person. It's not just (goalie) Caitlyn Clem. It's not just the backline. It's a group effort and it's really shown them that defense gets you places."

Since the Indiana game, the Badgers have allowed just four goals and posted five shutouts. They are outshooting opponents 121-73 since falling to the Hoosiers and outshooting their foes 67-39 in just the last five games.

"The biggest thing throughout the season is that we've gotten better defensively as a group," Wilkins added. "I think some of the younger players have evolved and gotten a lot of experience in big games and that's helped us. One of the biggest things during this time of the year is that our seniors are peaking at the right time.

"Obviously Rose Lavelle scoring a goal against Marquette was big time. It's not just her. It's Kylie Schwarz, Morgan Taylor, Micaela Powers, they're all peaking at the right time."

This senior class wasn't ready to end their season and that showed in the team's winning result against Marquette last Friday night at home.

"You can feel good energy from them. You can feel it in practice. You can feel it when they're around," Wilkins said. "They're excited and that momentum that they're building is really helpful. They've played Stanford. They've played Notre Dame and all those games will help us against a very good Florida team."