Men’s Hockey
After a rough weekend for the Badgers, which saw them lose to both Boston College and Boston University by a combined score of 10-1, head coach Mike Eaves quickly answered any and all questions about his team’s goaltending situation.
The answer for this week will be freshman Matt Jurusik, who played 56 minutes in relief in Friday night’s game against Boston College and saved a Wisconsin record 40 shots in the Badgers’ loss to Boston University the following evening.
Eaves took many positives from last week’s blowout losses, but was especially pleased with his freshman goalie’s performance.
“It was one of the positives that came out of the weekend, and we spoke about it right after the game with the guys,” Eaves said. He later added the growth shown by Matt Jurusik is the kind of performance he hopes to see from all his young players.
The Badgers, led by Jurusik, play Ferris State on the road this weekend and Eaves is excited for the opportunity.
“I’m glad we’re going on the road again, because it’s harder to win on the road, and it forces your focus to become greater,” he said.
The Badgers (0-2-2) are yet to come out with a victory but Eaves remained optimistic that his team could go into a smaller rink, play a “simpler game,” and come out with a tough victory.
“We don’t have the final result yet, but there’s good growth there, and we’ve got to keep pushing that and going in a good direction,” Eaves said.
Women’s Soccer
Currently riding a seven-game win streak, women’s soccer head coach Paula Wilkins was all smiles as she addressed the media Monday afternoon.
A mere month ago, her team had a losing record and was struggling to score goals.
“We put ourselves behind the eight ball a bit,” Wilkins said of her team’s first month.
Yet the Badgers (7-1-1 Big Ten, 10-4-3 overall) currently sit at the top of the Big Ten standings and are coming off a weekend that included major wins against Michigan and Michigan State.
According to Wilkins, the reason her team has been so successful on offense is, ironically. the improvement of her team’s defense.
“We’ve defended higher up on the field, able to win the ball higher, closer to our goal, and cause some goals in net in that fashion,” Wilkins said, later adding that the Badgers have “found the right combination of players.”
Specifically citing the improvement of her midfield, which now consists of Victoria Pickett, Rose Lavelle, Kinley McNicoll and McKenna Meuer, Wilkins sees a clear improvement in the confidence and focus of her team and feels a unique and exciting energy pulsating in her locker room.
Focus will be a theme of the upcoming week as the Badgers play the Maryland Terrapins, the doormat of the Big Ten.
“They are probably the best last-place team in the conference,” Wilkins said.
The Terrapins have yet to lose a Big Ten game by more than a goal and have four overtime losses as well. Wilkins acknowledged that because of Alex Anthony, the leading goal scorer in the Big Ten, the Terps can be very dangerous.
Nonetheless, Wilkins is excited for the challenge.
“It’s an opportunity to be great,” she said. “We’re going to have to be great.”
Football
This past week was the Badgers’ (2-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) homecoming and junior running back Corey Clement had his own homecoming of sorts when he returned to the team despite not seeing any live game action.
When asked about the outlook surrounding the sidelined star head coach Paul Chryst explained, “I think with Corey, he’s ahead of what people thought, and he was excited to be back in uniform; I think that’s part of it. He was one of the first guys onto the field and I’m looking forward to him practicing this week and really seeing how it goes for him.”
Fellow running back, redshirt junior Dare Ogunbowale, is also looking forward to the return of his teammate.
“He’s been itching since he got back from surgery, he’s the one that held himself out of the game...He just wants to make sure he’s 100 percent healthy,” Ogunbowale said.
Even though Ogunbowale will unavoidably lose carries with the return of Clement, he expressed his admiration and appreciation of Clement’s ability to contribute.
“I definitely want Corey back, he’s one of the better players that I’ve seen. He’s a very special player and he’s going to help us win games...I know where I want our team to go and Corey is a piece we need to get there,” Ogunbowale said.
Women’s Hockey
No. 3 Wisconsin (4-0-0 WCHA, 6-0-0 overall) is returning to LaBahn Arena this weekend after coming off another sweep and back-to-back shutouts in which the Badgers outscored WCHA adversary St. Cloud State 7-0 in two games. The Badgers will welcome No. 6 Bemidji State (3-0-1, 6-0-2) to Madison for games Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
Head coach Mark Johnson knows what Bemidji is capable of and knows his team is in for a much bigger test this weekend.
“Obviously with Bemidji coming in, as we saw last year with them, especially the second half of the season, very strong team, well coached, play with a lot of confidence, and they certainly are off to a great start and ranked, I believe, sixth or seventh in the country at this time. It will be a good series, Friday and Saturday, and certainly it will be the biggest test we have had up to this point in our season,” Johnson said.”
Bemidji has been powered by senior leadership and showed promise as an up-and-coming program in last year’s post season.
“Their senior class, this is their fourth year, they are certainly not intimidated by anybody, they have had confidence, and they’ve won a bunch of games, and certainly last year beating Minnesota in our playoff bodes well for, you know, their program, and certainly [head coach] Jim [Scanlan] has done a great job,” Johnson said.
Volleyball
It was a rough weekend for Wisconsin (4-4 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) as it dropped a pair of games in the Border Battle with Minnesota (7-1, 15-3).
Head coach Kelly Sheffield summed up the disappointing weekend with his opening statement. “Coming off a week where we played Minnesota twice and statistically those looked like two real even teams, pretty much the same hitting percentage, same amount of digs, same number of blocks. At the end of the day, we went 0-2 against those guys,” Sheffield said.
He continued, stating, “I thought we were better than what we were previously, and that’s kind of the goal, but at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody is real happy about going 0-2 during a week.”
The Badgers are heading into more Big Ten competition with the Iowa Hawkeyes (0-8, 10-11) and the No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-1, 16-2) up next on the schedule.
Sheffield is looking forward to practice in the meantime.
“We play a Friday-Saturday, which means this week and the following week will be a little bit longer, and, to me, being in the gym is so critical to development, much more so than being able to sit there in the film room. We’ve got a few days off. We didn’t get back until 4 in the morning after that late match, so those guys were just recovering yesterday,” Sheffield said.
