Men's Hockey
In his second year as the Wisconsin Head Coach, Mike Eaves' Badgers continue to struggle. After beginning the season with a 1-1-0 record, the Badger men's hockey team dropped two games at St. Cloud State University to start their Western Collegiate Hockey Association schedule.
On Friday, the Badgers lost the first game 2-1, on an early third period goal by SCSU. The Huskies' sophomore forward Konrad Reeder powered the puck in for the score with less than a minute gone by the final frame.
Lost in the shuffle was freshman forward Jake Dowell's first collegiate goal. With 8:21 to go in the second period, and with the Badgers on the power-play, tri-captain Rene Bourque fired the puck at the net. His shot hit an SCSU forward and Dowell deflected the puck past sophomore goalie Jason Montgomery for the goal.??The score temporarily tied the game.
The next day did not get much better for the Badgers. They again only tallied one goal, the second of the season for freshman forward Andrew Joudrey, as the Badgers again fell to SCSU, this time a 3-1 loss. This was the second straight stellar performance by a Huskie goalie, this time by junior netminder Adam Coole.
The loss was the result of penalties by the Badgers. After holding off the Huskies on their first short-handed stint, the Badgers gave up an early power-play goal to SCSU's junior forward Peter Szabo, who would later put in another power-play score in the third period.??
Joudrey's goal came in the middle of the final period when Wisconsin was on the power play. The score was assisted by fellow rookies, defenseman Ryan Suter and Jeff Likens.
The two teams combined for a total of 62 penalty minutes.??
Women's Volleyball
The No. 23 women's volleyball team continued its brilliance this season, with weekend wins at Purdue and Indiana, catapulting them to 14-5-0 and 6-2-0 in the Big Ten, good for first in the division.
In their first match, the Badgers floored Purdue in four games, making it the 15th straight time that they defeated the rival Boilermakers.?? Purdue fell to 12-6 and 5-3 in the conference after their loss.
Wisconsin spread the scoring around as five players had double-digit kills.?? Sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto led the team, and tied for the match lead, with 17 kills.?? Junior outside hitter Jill Odenthal and senior outside hitter Lisa Zukowski were second on the team with 14.??
The final scores were 30-28, 30-19, 29-31 and 30-28, led by senior setter Morgan Shields, who notched 60 assists and a match-high three aces, and senior libero Jill Maier, who recorded 22 digs, a career high, led the Badger defense.??
The next day the Badgers took care of Indiana in a close five-game match, 29-31, 31-29, 30-19, 27-30, 15-12. Making sure they didn't repeat last year's shortcoming, when they lost to Indiana in five games, the win, combined with a 3-0 Penn State loss to Minnesota, took Wisconsin up to first place in the Big Ten.
Meierotto again led all hitters, this time with a career high of 25 kills. She also had a hitting percentage of .512. Shields added to her big assist output for the weekend, and racked up 67 in the match.??The defense again was led by Maier, who recorded 21 digs.
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Women's hockey
The Badgers took their very first road trip of the season and squeaked out their third straight win to open the 2003-2004 Season against Maine.
Junior forward Jackie Friesen piloted the team to victory with two goals and Co-captain senior forward Steph Millar scored a goal and had an assist for the 6th ranked Wisconsin Badgers en route to their 5-4 win.'? Christine Dufour, making her first career start for Wisconsin, earned eight saves.??
After capturing the lead early on a goal from sophomore forward Nikki Burish, Friessen quickly followed with her first goal, assisted by Sara Bauer. Maine then scored at the end of the first period on freshman forward Tristan Demet's unassisted goal.?? The Badgers quickly responded twenty seconds later with a goal from of senior forward Karen Rickard.
After leading 3-1 at the end of the first period, both teams posted two goals in the second frame, including Freisen's second goal, which was a power-play score.?? Millar also scored her goal that period, which was the first of this young season.
The game looked like it might slip out of reach at the end, as a late penalty allowed the Black Bears to pull senior net minder Lara Smart from the goal, but the Badgers squashed any hopes Maine might have, killing the penalty and notching the win.
The Badgers and their opponent, now 0-1-0, stay where they are for a Monday afternoon game.
Women's soccer
Life on the road proved unforgiving for the women's soccer team as the Badgers dropped two tough Big Ten road games to ranked opponents this past weekend.
Wisconsin (3-6-0 Big Ten 7-8-1 overall) returned home-empty handed in both the win column and scoring column as No. 25 Ohio State (3-2-3, 9-2-3) blanked the Badgers 2-0 Friday night in Columbus and No. 11 Penn State (8-1-0, 14-2-2) shut-out UW 5-0 Sunday afternoon in University Park.
Ohio State scored at the start of the 28th minute in the first half and provided the insurance goal later in the second half. The Buckeyes ended the game with a small edge in shots at 14-10, but produced more scoring opportunities than the Badgers, getting six shots on goal to Wisconsin's one . OSU also edged the Badgers 3-1 in corner kicks.
Both Penn State and Wisconsin started slowly on Senior Day in State College, Pa., but the floodgates busted wide open for the Nittany Lions halfway through the first half, as Penn State scored four goals before the intermission. Penn State ended the scoring with 3:51 to play on the final goal. The Nittany Lions outshot the Badgers 15-4 in the contest.
Men's soccer
Despite a quick start, the men's soccer team lost momentum down the stretch as the Badgers fell to the Wolverines 4-1, Sunday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Untimely fouls and penalty kicks plagued Wisconsin (1-3-0 Big Ten, 8-8-0 overall) and allowed Michigan (11-4-0, 3-1-0) to shift the early momentum back to their side.
Wisconsin got on the board early, as sophomore forward Phil Doeh scored in the sixth minute on a pass from junior forward Jed Hohlbein.
But a hand-ball call in the tenth minute killed any momentum that the Badgers had created. Michigan tied the score on the ensuing penalty kick as they put the ball past junior goalkeeper. The Badger defense gave up two more goals in the first half; one coming off another penalty shot.
Wisconsin's play improved greatly in the second half, but the early deficit proved too large to overcome. The Badgers' next game is against Temple Wednesday in a nonconference matchup.
-Clint Robus and Sam Pepper
