MADISON, Wis. --The Wisconsin women's soccer team secured its first Big Ten win of the season thanks to a three-goal half that lifted the Badgers over Purdue, 3-1.
"I think that we were pressing early in the second half to be able to get something and I think that kind of broke a little bit of Purdue's back," head coach
Paula Wilkins said. "What we asked the players to do in the second half was to keep passing and open up some space, so we did that and had some success and I think that was a little bit of a difference. We were able to get a little bit higher up on the field so we were able to create some more offense off of that."
The Boilermakers were the first to strike in the 19th minute as freshman Vanessa Korolas managed to swipe the ball into the left side of the net past
Caitlyn Clem to take the 1-0 lead.
However, the Badger offense was consistently creating chances as they held the advantage in shots, 8-6, going into the half.
The second period was all Wisconsin as the team notched their three goals within a span of just under 10 minutes.
Junior
Sydney McGinnis led the Badger charge in the 65th minute as she notched the equalizer off the feed from
Payton Wesley to tie the game up 1-1.
About a minute after recording her first career assist, Wesley also logged her first-career goal.
Wesley tapped the ball in from point-blank range off the assist from senior
Rose Lavelle to extend the lead 2-1.
The momentum kept swinging in the Badgers' favor as sophomore
Steph Fabry earned her first goal of the season in the 76th minute to put an exclamation point on Wisconsin's lead.
Senior
Kylie Schwarz notched her first assist of the season on Fabry's breakaway goal.
"We had an injury with Emily (Borgmann) so we talked about the next person in who can come in and step up and I think Steph (Fabry)and Payton (Wesley) being able to do that was great and what we needed," Wilkins added. "I think that the first goal gave us confidence to keep doing the right things and to produce another goal and obviously another goal to put the game away."
The Boilermakers would come up empty-handed in the second half, failing to tally a shot, to give the Badgers the 3-1 victory.
Throughout the game Wisconsin dominated in shots, holding a 10-6 and 12-3 advantage in shots and shots on goal while Purdue had the upper hand in corner kicks, 9-7.
Lavelle, McGinnis and senior
Micaela Powers all led the team in shots, each posting three shots apiece while Lavelle and McGinnis also led the team in shots on goal with three.
Clem recorded two saves on the night while Purdue's goalkeeper Jordan Ginther
made nine.
"I think any time you're able to get a win on the road against Purdue or any Big Ten team helps your confidence a little bit," Wilkins said. "Early in the first half I thought we had some chances that we needed to put away and again that's experience coming through and I think this experience will just help us moving onto Indiana."
The Badgers continue play this weekend as they travel to Indiana on Sunday, Sept. 25 to take on the Hoosiers. The game is set to kick off at noon.
