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 For the first time in 13 years, the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team has started the Big Ten Conference season with back-to-back victories.
Freshman striker Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East) scored her second goal of the game and team-best sixth of the season in the 84th minute as the Badgers knocked off Michigan State 2-1 on Friday in East Lansing, Mich.
UW (7-3-0 overall, 2-0-0 Big Ten) allowed Spartans senior standout Laura Heyboer to score her 14th goal, tops in the country, but Walls' late goal after a corner kick ended Michigan State's eight-game winning streak.
"It was challenging to be on the road against a good Michigan State team," Badgers coach Paula Wilkins said in a news release. "However, I thought the players' effort and mentality and fighting spirit, even when Michigan State got a goal back, was good. I was proud of the team."
Walls put UW ahead in the 23rd, flicking a shot past Spartans senior goalkeeper Jill Flietstra off a ball played in to her by junior defender Lindsey Johnson (Mequon Homestead) from the right side.
Heyboer equalized for Michigan State (8-2-0, 1-1-0) in the 60th, running on to a ball from junior strike partner Olivia Stander, breaking in alone and chipping Badgers senior keeper Michele Dalton from the top of the box.
"We didn't have an immediate reaction, but we started to wear them down as the game went on," Wilkins said. "We had more possessions in the front half and more set pieces, which put Michigan State on their heels.
"We were able to win the battle of moving the ball and field position and were able to score on a set piece."
Senior defender Meghan Flannery (Milwaukee DSHA) served in a corner kick that the Spartans attempted to clear, but sophomore defender Catie Sessions sent the ball right back in. Senior Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon Homestead) flicked it to Walls, who finished again against Flietstra.
"On both of her goals she beat people to the ball," Wilkins said of Walls, who also was denied by Flietstra with a fine save in the 81st. "She stretched out and did quite well to do that. It was what we've been talking about, being desperate in the box and putting her foot and body where other people don't want to.
"She did that today to score those goals, especially late in the game."
Dalton finished with four saves for the Badgers, who travel to Ann Arbor to play Michigan (6-3-1, 1-1-0) on Sunday. Former UW coach Greg Ryan is the Wolverines' coach, while Dean Duerst – a Madison native, former Badgers player and Ryan's successor as UW coach – is an assistant.
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