The Wisconsin women's soccer team (3-3-1) will kick-off Big Ten Conference play this weekend as it travels to No. 15 Purdue Friday evening and Indiana Sunday afternoon.
Earlier this season, Wisconsin's junior goalkeeper Jamie Klages said she was looking forward to seeing what the Big Ten had to offer. Klages is a transfer from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a member of the Big 12 Conference. She stressed that every game would be a battle to the end, but since she has never played in the Big Ten, she is excited to get the conference games started.
After an unexpected loss to UW-Milwaukee last weekend, the Badgers were hoping to pick up a win Tuesday night at home against Northern Iowa before hitting the road, but due to the incident at UW-Hospital, which is in the vicinity of the McClimon Soccer Complex, Tuesday's game was cancelled and will not be rescheduled.
I think the biggest thing was that we wanted to come out and redefine ourselves after the Milwaukee game, to regain focus and to take care of things we didn't take care of in the Milwaukee game,"" Wisconsin head coach Paula Wilkins said.
""We thought a game [against Northern Iowa] would have been important to us. However, safety is very important and preparing for Purdue is what we have been doing for most of the week.""
Purdue (8-1-1) has only lost one game at home this season, the second game of the Boilermaker Invitational Tournament. Purdue is on an eight game winning streak, but Wisconsin is looking to ignite a flame early in Big Ten Conference competition.
""Purdue had a great result against Portland. Indiana had a great result against USC,"" Wilkins said. ""I think they are both well coached teams and it's going to be a great test for us to start the Big Ten.""
Wisconsin's match-up against Indiana (6-2-1) will also be a rough one. The Hoosiers lost their first two games of the season, and since then have gone on a five game winning streak. Indiana has yet to be defeated on their home field.
""I think the biggest thing is that we need to keep pressure on the ball. I think we need to keep check on all of their attacking players. They have several players that will take us one-on-one ... and then we need to get numbers forward and put pressure on them.""
Wilkins said that even though her team had a rough past week, conference games have the ability to bring out the best of teams. Entering conference play could serve as momentum enough, but there are still a few things the Badgers have to take care of in order to secure victories.
""Conference games are always a bit more important [than non-conference games]. You take pride in doing well in your conference. It's one thing you really want to focus on during the season,"" Wilkins said.
