The Badgers defeated the Hoosiers 3-0 in Madison, Wisconsin. After three consecutive double overtime games, IU’s first half snapped any thought of that trend. In its first Big Ten road trip, the Hoosiers’ inauspicious play kept them from scoring. IU Coach Amy Berbary attributed the loss, not to lack of conditioning, but to effort.
“I thought we started out well,” Berbary said. “But then we hung our heads, and that is not something we typically do. I thought the effort in the second half was much better than the first.”
In the first half, the Badgers outshot the Hoosiers 13-3. IU (3-4-4) had its first and only shot on goal of the game in the 44th minute. The chance came from freshman forward Justine Lynn who made her debut after suffering an injury earlier in the season.
“I think she’s going to help us,” Berbary said. “We just have to work on getting her in and getting her fitness back, but I thought she did a pretty good job for us in the minutes she played.”
Wisconsin (4-4-3) took control of the night by attacking early and often. The Badgers struck first in the 16th minute when midfielder Kinley McNicoll scored on a shot that went high-center of the net.
The Badgers were just getting started. In the 20th minute, fellow Wisconsin senior midfielder McKenna Meuer scored on a header to put the Badgers up by two.
“We call those big five moments,” Berbary said. “So they scored within the five minutes. We’re just going to have to be better.”
After not allowing a goal for almost 25 minutes, the Hoosiers surrendered another goal in the waning moments of the first half. In the 44th minute Wisconsin forward Steph Fabry scored to put the exclamation point on the Badgers’ first half. The Hoosiers searched for answers at halftime.
In the second half, the Hoosiers did not surrender a goal and created some offensive opportunties. However, they dug themselves too deep a hole.
“I think we came out slower than we usually do in the first half,” senior defender Emily Basten said. “We definitely had a better second half. We kept them from scoring, had a lot of attacks, but for that next game we have to figure out how to put two halves together like we did in the second half.”
The Hoosiers are now 0-3 away from home, not including neutral sites. They understand the difficulty of playing on the road, as they have a minus six goal differential and have yet to score a goal.
“It’s always tough to play on the road,” Berbary said. “We just have to refocus and put tonight behind us.”
IU plays No. 18 Minnesota at 2 p.m. Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Minnesota has beaten ranked teams Ohio State and Penn State on the road and will serve as a challenge for the Hoosiers.
“Right now we’re just thinking blank slate about Sunday,” Basten said. “We’re looking forward to fixing some of the things that we need to fix on Sunday and walk away with three points.”
