UW women's soccer Head Coach Dean Duerst cannot wait to get his players onto the field this weekend. After suffering through a scoring slump, the Badgers' offense exploded against Indiana Sunday as the team scored five goals. This weekend, the Women's Soccer team (2-3-1 Big Ten, 8-3-1 overall) will battle Minnesota (0-6, 3-8) Friday and Iowa (0-5-1, 0-8-2) Sunday at the McClimon Complex.
The Badgers hope to carry over their solid play from last weekend's sweep of Purdue and Indiana.
\Soccer is a game of streaks,"" Duerst said.
The Badgers have known this all too well this season. After starting the season 6-0, the Badgers lost three of their next four before last weekend's two victories.
This weekend's games are huge. The Badgers are currently seventh in the Big Ten and will need all the wins they can get to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament. Duerst stresses the importance of these games.
""The team has really begun to find itself,"" he said. ""Our confidence, spacing, organization and energy have all been really good. Some of the personnel adjustments we made earlier in the season are really starting to pay off.""
He called the games this weekend ""must-win games"" for the Badgers so that they can keep their Big Ten title hopes alive. The Badgers match up very well for both games. Some strengths of this year's team include experience, talented scorers, the ability to control the ball and the dominant offense allowing the ball to remain in their opponents' territory for much of the game.
Iowa's backfield, a very young and inexperienced one, should have trouble with the constant pressure applied by the Badger attack.
Both opponents are winless in the Big Ten and are therefore desperate for victories. With their backs against the wall, they are fighting for their respective seasons. Each squad should have trouble neutralizing Wisconsin's offense.
The team was held to one goal during its four-game winless streak, but the offense exploded for five goals during last weekend's game against Indiana. Junior midfielder/forward Amy Vermeulen is among the Big Ten leaders in every offensive category with 10 goals and four assists, but the Badgers boast as many as seven players who have scored more than one goal this season. If the opposition tries to focus on Vermeulen, there are many other talented scorers ready to step up in her place. It will not be easy for the Hawkeyes and the Golden Gophers to stop this revitalized offensive attack.
Duerst has set his sights high for this weekend, hoping the Badgers can score a sweep of the weekend's games by shutting out both opponents. Doing so would be a huge confidence boost for the final month of the season. A sweep of the games Friday and Sunday would go a long way toward a Big Ten Tournament birth and a chance at a league title.
