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 Strike partners Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East) and Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon Homestead) both scored, but it was goalkeeper Michele Dalton who made the difference for the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team Friday.
The senior made 11 saves, several from point-blank range, as the Badgers shut out high-scoring Morgan Marlborough and Nebraska 2-0 in a Big Ten Conference match in Lincoln, Neb.
"(Dalton) was very good today," UW coach Paula Wilkins said in a news release. "It was probably one of the best goalkeeping performances I've seen in my career. She made a big difference because they were very good at creating some opportunities, and she really helped us keep a clean sheet."
The Cornhuskers (5-7-1 overall, 2-4-0 Big Ten) came into the week ranked in the top 20 nationally with an average of 2.58 goals per match, while Marlborough was among the country's leading scorers with 16 goals.
Nebraska outshot UW 19-10 and had a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal, but the Badgers (8-4-2, 3-1-2) scored on two of their three shots on frame as they won for the first time in four matches and dealt the Huskers their fourth straight loss.
Nosbusch set up Walls' opener in the 44th minute for her team-best fifth assist of the year before scoring her fifth goal in the 82nd. The forwards have combined for 12 of UW's 19 goals this season, and the Badgers are 7-2-0 when one of them scores.
"I think it's great," Wilkins said of the strike partnership. "In the past few games Cara hadn't had a shot on goal, but today they were to be able to find each other, take chances and finish them well. ... Sometimes for goal scorers it takes time, and they just have to believe they're going to score."
Walls did just that 62 seconds before halftime after a nice set up from Nosbusch. The senior got the ball in transition and drew a defender to her, then flicked the ball over to Walls for the freshman to finish against Huskers keeper Emma Stevens from 15 yards out for her team-high seventh goal of the season.
After making six saves in the opening 45 minutes, Dalton kept the Badgers ahead by stopping four shots – UW saw Nebraska's Jordan Jackson hit the crossbar on a shot and had a defender clear a ball of the line – before Nosbusch's insurance goal in the final 10 minutes.
Junior forward Paige Adams found senior midfielder Lauren Cochlin, who worked the ball up the right side and pulled Stevens off her line to open up the net, then crossed to Nosbusch to set up the goal. Nosbusch took over sole possession of fifth place in UW history in career points (75) and moved into a tie for ninth with 19 career assists, and her 28 career goals rank fifth in the program record books.
Dalton made two more saves in the final minutes to wrap up her fifth shutout of the season and the 23rd of her career. She is just behind Julie Johnson (1993 to '96) and Ursula McKnight (1993 to '96) in UW history; the former teammates are tied for fifth with 23½ shutouts apiece – the NCAA no longer recognizes partial shutouts.
The Badgers are off until next weekend, when they head south to Illinois for their final road matches of the regular season, next Friday at Northwestern (1-11-0, 0-5-0) and next Sunday at Illinois (8-4-1, 2-2-1).
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