The No. 13 Wisconsin women's soccer team (4-1-1) escaped the West Coast by salvaging a split in the Nike Invitational Sunday afternoon, edging Washington 2-1 at Portland's Merlo Field.
After a tough 5-1 loss to host Portland Friday night, the Badgers looked to rebound quickly against Washington. Wisconsin's Allison Preiss took care of that in a hurry.
The junior midfielder headed the ball past Washington goalkeeper Kelsey Rasmussen just 3:56 into the contest, quickly putting the Badgers on top and erasing the daunting memories of Friday's disappointing loss. Senior Marissa Brown and junior Kara Kabellis assisted on Preiss' first goal of the season.
Wisconsin padded its lead at 26:21 when Preiss and Kabellis hooked up once again. This time Preiss fed a cross to Kabellis, whose header found the back of the net for her first goal of the year, giving the Badgers a 2-0 halftime lead.
Washington's Melissa Beal converted her third goal of the season five minutes into the second half, but that was all the slumping Huskies could muster, despite outshooting the Badgers 13 to 10. Washington dropped to a disappointing 0-4-2 after opening the season ranked No. 20.
The weekend's marquee matchup was supposed to be Friday night, with the Badgers pitted against No. 5 Portland (6-0-0). Unfortunately, the Badgers were not ready for the potent Pilots, who ran away with a 5-1 victory in front of nearly 4,000 fans. Though they were outshot 11-3 in the first half, Wisconsin initially hung tough, trailing just 1-0 at the break.
Portland senior forward Christine Sinclair, coming off her National Player of the Week honor, added to her impressive early season totals with the first half goal, her tenth of the season.
Portland, however, exploded for four second half goals, quickly putting the game quickly out of reach. Wisconsin freshman Sandy Jorgensen scored the Badgers' lone goal at 89:36. The last-minute goal helped the Badgers narrowly avoid becoming Portland's fifth consecutive shutout victim. Jorgensen's goal, the first of her career, was also the first allowed by the Pilots this season.
Portland held a 23-8 advantage in shots and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks. Pilots goalkeeper Cori Alexander made one save. Sophomore Lynn Murray had seven for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin returns to action next weekend when they host the Big Toe Soccer Invitational at McClimon Soccer Complex. The Badgers will welcome Brigham Young Friday and UW-Milwaukee Saturday.
