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 After dropping a 2-0 decision to Iowa in its regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at the McClimon Complex, the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team face an intriguing week ahead with the Big Ten Conference tournament and next Monday's NCAA tournament announcement.
The Badgers (10-6-3 overall, 5-3-3 Big Ten) finished fourth in the conference and will play Border Battle rival Minnesota (8-9-2, 5-4-2) in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Evanston, Ill.
Should UW get past the Golden Gophers – the teams played to a 2-2 draw back on Sept. 29 – the Badgers would in all likelihood face top-seeded and 12th-ranked Penn State (17-3-0, 10-1-0) in Friday's semifinals. UW beat the Nittany Lions 1-0 in a hard-fought conference opener on Sept. 17, marking the second straight year the Badgers have given coach Paula Wilkins a victory over her former team.
And to make matters even more interesting, UW probably will need every last win it can get if it is going to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the third straight season – unless it claims an automatic berth by winning the Big Ten tournament, which is back after a two-year hiatus. The Badgers were 52nd in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index last week and look like they're on the bubble heading into this week's matches.
A win on Saturday would have made UW the No. 3 seed for the tournament, as the Badgers would have finished tied with Michigan State (14-5-0, 7-4-0) but would have owned the tiebreaker. But the Hawkeyes (13-4-2, 5-4-2), who needed to win to claim a spot in the tourney, ended UW's two-game winning streak and left Wilkins with some work to do before the team makes the short trip south.
Iowa freshman Cloe Lacasse didn't end up on the scoresheet, but was a handful for the Badgers, forcing senior goalkeeper Michele Dalton into two fine saves and drawing a penalty kick. Leah DeMoss put the Hawkeyes ahead in the 57th minute and Morgan Showalter converted the penalty Lacasse drew in the 82nd.
"Our defense put some pressure on themselves just missing balls through, not covering each other well and doing the right they need to do defensively," Wilkins said in a news release, speaking about her team's play in the second half. "It has got to be more of a collective unit, and we were a little bit separated for what we were trying to do and we need to revisit that in training."
UW's issues weren't just on the backline, though.
"I don't think we kept enough passes in the front half of the field – we gave the ball away too easily," said Wilkins, whose team was shut out for the fourth time in its past nine matches. "I thought (the Hawkeyes) had great shape in their system and we played into it. When we had opportunities to get around the corner or to play people's feet we didn't do a good enough job."
Each team had 12 shots in the match, but Iowa put eight of its shot on frame compared to just three for the Badgers. Dalton finished with six saves in her final regular-season home match, while Hawkeyes senior Emily Moran recorded her sixth clean sheet of the season.
BIG TEN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
At Lakeside Field, Evanston, Ill.
Wednesday's quarterfinals
No. 1 Penn State (17-3-0) vs. No. 8 Northwestern (2-15-1), 4:30 p.m.
No. 4 Wisconsin (10-6-3) vs. No. 5 Minnesota (8-9-2), 7:30 p.m.
No. 2 Illinois (14-4-1) vs. No. 7 Ohio State (10-8-1), 1:30 p.m.
No. 3 Michigan State (14-5-0) vs. No. 6 Iowa (13-4-2), 10:30 a.m.
Friday's semifinals
Quarterfinal winners, 1:15 and 3:45 p.m. (BTN)
Sunday's championship
Semifinal winners, 3 p.m. (BTN)
Winner earns automatic berth in NCAA tournament
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