The Wisconsin women's soccer team will come home this weekend having lost their unbeaten and shutout streaks, but also having snapped a winless streak against Penn State that dated back to 1995. After a tough 1-0 loss to Ohio State on Friday, the Badgers bounced back strongly to take down the Nittany Lions 3-2 at University Park on Sunday.
UW traveled to Columbus Friday carrying a 9-match shutout streak, but the Buckeyes were able to crack the Badgers' defense in the 27th minute to end that streak. Buckeye forward Tiffany Cameron crossed to midfielder Caitlyn Martin, who put a header past UW keeper Michele Dalton to give OSU a 1-0 lead. The Badgers pushed hard to find an equalizer, but despite Dalton's four late saves to keep them in the game, Wisconsin couldn't climb back. The loss also broke the Badgers' 10-match unbeaten streak.
However, Wisconsin would bounce back impressively on Sunday in Pennsylvania. The Nittany Lions entered the match with a three game win streak, and their only previous loss to UW had come in 1995. But the Badgers defied history and jumped out to an early two-goal lead.
In the 17th minute, freshman midfielder Catie Sessions took a long free kick that was deflected into the goal by a PSU defender to give Sessions her first ever goal for the Badgers. 15 minutes later Sessions took another free kick, this time electing to cross from closer range. Junior forward Laurie Nosbusch worked hard to get into position and got a foot on the ball in the middle of a scrum in the six-yard box to give the Badgers a two-goal cushion.
After the match, Sessions spoke of the practice and hard work that went into the set pieces.
""It felt really good to get two results off of a set piece that we had been working on extensively in training,"" said Sessions. ""On that second goal Laurie put everything she had into it and put herself in perfect to position to capitalize on the play. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have gotten the result that we did on that set piece.""
Penn State would fight back to bring the score to 2-2 with 11 minutes remaining in the match, but the Badgers struck to go ahead for good just one minute after the Nittany Lions' equalizer. Freshman midfielder Kodee Williams notched the game-winner from 10 yards out in the 79th minute, her second goal of the season.
""It felt really good especially because we had been fighting to win during the whole game,"" Williams said. ""It was a real battle. The game meant so much to us, because it was Coach Wilkins' old field. It was definitely a great moment.""
With the win, the Badgers move into 2nd place in the Big Ten standings with three matches remaining, all in Madison. Wisconsin will battle the state of Michigan next weekend, matching up with Michigan State on Friday before meeting Michigan on Sunday.
