At its last home game, Wisconsin’s (2-2-3) head coach Paula Wilkins said that her team needed to find a way to win. On Friday night with six minutes left in the second overtime, they did just that, with a 1-0 victory over South Dakota State (2-4-1) in the first game of the PAC the MAC doubleheader.
After 103 minutes of dominating the Jackrabbits offensively, senior midfielder Rose Lavelle launched a pass to sophomore Emily Borgmann, who had a beautiful shot find its way to the far left of the net to end the game in sudden-death fashion.
Lavelle was all over the pitch the whole game, playing all 103 minutes and recording seven shots, one on goal. Most notably, in the 94th minute, she had a chance to end the game, but her shot hit the crossbar and started a flurry of Badger shots.
Redshirt junior goaltender Caitlyn Clem had four saves on the night, the most impressive being on a looping shot from a South Dakota State player who thought she was going to get an easy goal.
The victory came at a much-needed time for the Badgers, who have either lost or tied their previous five games and were hungry for momentum heading into the Big Ten season. The game was also the 100th career win for Wilkins.
