The UW women's soccer team kicked off its home opener as it hosted the Rocky Rococo Classic. The Badgers (3-2-1) first matched up against No. 12 University of Connecticut. With a perfect night for soccer, the Badgers played anything but a perfect game.
The game started in the air with many head balls and high kicks, but Wisconsin dominated the ball on the ground. The Badgers attacked the net but missed often with high or wide shots. Any other shot primed to go in was stopped at the line by the highly talented UConn senior goalie Maria Yatrakis.
\I think goalies get in a zone,"" Head Coach Duerst said. ""[Yatrakis] was able to come up with those big, big saves, especially with [Kundert] getting through a few times. [We were] getting the shots that we wanted, and yet [Yatrakis] was in the right position and if it was really where she had to extend, you could see her talent. Most keepers don't hold that many shots, she held [a higher percent of shots than] I've seen of most keepers. She would be the MVP of the game for sure.""
The game took a sudden turn for the worst when Husky senior forward Salla Ranta pinned a beautiful floater to the upper right-hand corner of the pipes off a free kick at 17:33 in the first half to give the Huskies their first goal of the night. Later that half, at 36:15, UConn doubled the lead with a long outside kick from the left coming in on the right, as sophomore midfielder Kristen Graczyk assisted freshman midfielder Jennifer Sullivan in making it a 2-0 game.
From there on out, the Badgers played rougher and showed frustration with a higher level of physical play, as they missed more opportunities coming off penalty kicks or shots on goal, reminiscent of last season's play.
""I think [it was] missed opportunities,"" Duerst said. ""I think our players themselves feel like it just wasn't justified [of] our quality of play. Certainly we could have taken more chances, but I think we needed to take the chances better.""
Wisconsin eventually lost 2-1 as the Huskies held their ground until very late in the game, with the Badgers' only goal came from sophomore midfielder/forward Sarah Capel. Capel was assisted by Kundert with 30 seconds left in the game.
Sunday's match-up proved to be much better as they beat up on Davidson, scoring two goals in the first half of play and then finishing the game with another in the second half to give Wisconsin a 3-1 victory.
The first and third goals for UW came off freshman midfielder Marisa Brown, who scored the first off of a deflective save, which
she nailed at the pipes. The third goal occurred after an assist by Capel that came in from the right. Freshman midfielder Katy Lindenmuth notched the second goal, with assists from freshman midfielder Carolyn Nosbusch and Brown.
One benefit of the season thus far is that Wisconsin's young players have learned to play as a team, as all three goals Sunday came off freshman players.
""We play really well as a team,"" Brown said. ""When we play our style of game we can dominate, but when we start losing our focus and [play] not like we usually do, that really affects us. But really, [what's important] is playing our style.""
The Badgers earned second place in the tournament overall behind UConn, who defeated the St. Louis Billikens in a 2-0 shutout Sunday afternoon.
