Women's soccer: 'We're still here'
November 16, 2017 | Women's Soccer
Badgers persevere through Big Ten and are back in heart of NCAA tournament
"They are way too young."
"It's definitely going to be a down year for them."
"They will struggle without Rose Lavelle."
"They took an early bad loss to Stanford."
"They finished fifth in the Big Ten."
Make no mistake, Wisconsin women's soccer has heard it all. And yet, the Badgers are still here, one of the last 32 teams standing in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
What does head coach Paula Wilkins think? Did the collegiate soccer world write off the Badgers?
"I always wonder when people say 'underestimate' — like they didn't give them enough credit in the first place — but I think so, because of the experience," head coach Paula Wilkins said. "We're starting two new center backs, which for most clubs is a challenge and we lost a significant amount of starters.
"And I think when people lose Rose Lavelle, other teams can take a deep breath because they don't have to worry so much about it.
"That's what spurred this team on a little bit, a little chip on their shoulder like they want to prove something, prove who we are and what we can do. Some of the younger players came here to change the program and make it consistent. It's been exciting to watch because they've stepped right into those roles."
What about the players? Do they think they are the underdog in the NCAA tournament?
"I'd say skill-wise, no, we aren't the underdog, but I don't think we mind being the underdog," redshirt freshman Grace Douglas added. People do count us out, but I think that plays to our advantage. When you're the underdog, you have nothing to lose and I think that's when we play our best."
Drowning out the external voices, Wilkins has drained away any doubt. The Badgers' fearless leader preached the same phrase since day one of practice and held onto it all season long: "Trust the process."
The Badgers are a young team. They will suffer some tough losses, like the first of the season, losing 5-0 to Stanford. But after each game, the process works. They will learn something. They will learn something about themselves and about the team.
And they have. They learned that they could come back from a loss to the No. 2 team in the country and shut out the No. 3 team in the country just 11 days later.
"I think all the games that we've played this season, Stanford and Virginia on the road, Penn State at home, the Big Ten in general has taught these guys that they're not young anymore," Wilkins added. "They're seasoned, they're more experienced and they've been through different experiences with one another. Even training the past couple days has been way better than it's been at the very beginning and we've been talking about that. Their evolution has been pretty incredible so I don't consider them young anymore because of the games they've gone through."
And the best part? They're not done yet.
"Like I said, with us being the underdogs, youth plays right into that," Douglas said. "We don't care, we walk out onto the field and we know we're the underdogs and that's perfectly fine. We all trust each other to be better and if one person isn't as good that day, the next person will be twice as good.
"We have our backs in that way. I truly believe the people I walk onto the field with every game are the only people in the entire nation that I want to be on the field with and I think that's special."
One of the biggest challenges lies ahead, as the Badgers take on No. 1-seeded South Carolina on Friday night at 5 p.m. CT.
"I think on paper we're considered an underdog because of the results South Carolina has done," Wilkins said. "They've done a lot this season to be able to earn their respect. In some ways we are the underdog, I think experience wise they are a little bit ahead of us, but I think this group is in a really good spot right now to make a run."
