Many UW sports, including women's soccer, jumped in to their regular season schedules before regular production started. Here is a look at where the team has been already this year, and what lies ahead.
The women's soccer team did not waste any time finding stiff competition to begin the regular season slate this fall.
Opening the season ranked No. 20, Wisconsin dropped three straight games and did not manage a goal against some of the top units in the country.
The slide was bookended by top five teams including No. 3 UCLA in the opener and No. 4 Portland on September 3.
Wisconsin finally broke into the score book on Sunday against Washington, as freshman Kodee Williams tallied a goal and helped the Badgers to a 1-1 draw against the University of Washington. Though the result improved, head coach Paula Wilkins said the team still has plenty to learn.
""Ideally, we are not where I would want us to be at this part of the season,"" Wilkins said. ""We knew this was going to be a challenging start to our season. I think in the long run this is going to be an important series of games for us in terms of building.""
The Badgers have also been battling a bit of an injury bug, as both of the returning forwards, sophomore Paige Adams and junior Laurie Nosbusch missed time with injuries. Nosbusch, the team's leading scorer from last season, is now back and will be relied upon to improve UW's offensive output.
In goal, senior Michele Dalton has started three contests while junior Lauren Gunderson started in the team's loss to Portland. As the team moves forward with the rest of their non-conference schedule and into Big Ten play, Wilkins said competition between the pipes, and at other positions, will help the team stay sharp.
""I'm really happy to have [depth] because what we're finding with the program is that it's all over the field that we're having some competition and some stuff in practice,"" she said. ""I think that only makes the team stronger at the end, and they help each other, so it's a good thing.""
This weekend, UW returns to Madison for games against South Dakota St. and UW-Milwaukee. Wilkins said that, despite the slow start, the team is primed to have a big weekend.
""To get them to move in the right direction on Sunday was a step in the right direction,"" Wilkins said. ""For me, I'm going to keep trying to figure out how to solve it.""
