After finding their form on the road last weekend in Tennessee, the Wisconsin women's soccer team hopes to assert itself this weekend during their trip to Indiana, where they will launch their Big Ten campaign against Purdue and Indiana. Following a weekend that saw two team members earn weekly conference honors, the Badgers are not short on confidence and will be looking to extend their streaks of four shutouts and three wins in a row.
After netting both game-winning goals last weekend, junior midfielder Laurie Nosbusch earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Head coach Paula Wilkins recognized Nosbusch's importance after losing her to injury for the Badgers' first two games this season. Nosbusch also felt the improved cohesion in the attack, and she feels confident in her ability to come up big in crunch time.
""We just have to continue to attack together as a team, connect on passes in the final [third] and it'll help us out a lot.,"" Nosbusch said. ""I might not score a lot of goals but when we need one I feel like I can either score a goal or get an assist.""
Although the Badgers' attack has become more consistent, the defense has provided the foundation for the team's recent success.
""To know that we have a great defense behind us, it helps us out when we know that we're not a high powered offense,"" Nosbusch said.
As her recent play has proven, senior keeper Michele Dalton is one of the defense's greatest assets which has allowed just six goals through its first nine games Dalton has been essential in that stretch and earned a share of the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award this week.
""It's certainly a goal of mine going into every game to not concede a goal, so from a personal standpoint, we've done a good job of that. The defense has come up big for me and I've come up big for them and that's how it's supposed to work,"" Dalton said.
The team seems to have struck a balance between offense and defense at just the right time, as they open Big Ten play this weekend in Indiana against Purdue at 3:30 p.m. Friday and against Indiana at 12:00 p.m. Sunday.
Nosbusch exuded confidence when summarizing the team's outlook.
""It was a much awaited turnaround because we started a little rough,"" Nosbusch said. ""To have that turnaround and get on a roll it seems like this is a perfect time to do it heading into the Big Ten season. We feel like we've played great teams and when we see [teams in the Big Ten] we feel like ‘we can play with you and we can play better than you.'""
