By Ryan Wollersheim

For the first time in over two years, the Wisconsin Women’s soccer team held its usual spring exhibition season. This comes after having back-to-back developmental seasons scrapped due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Badgers would typically have an exhibition season made up of a maximum of five games against a mix of in-state and other nearby division 1 programs. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 canceled the remainder of the team’s spring season that year. The 2020 Big Ten regular season was then postponed from its usual fall time frame until the spring of 2021 which overrode the team’s typical exhibition schedule.

In the eyes of associate head coach Tim Rosenfeld, finally having the usual spring exhibition season back this year has been a major developmental boost for the Badgers heading into next fall.

“I think it’s awesome because it’s one thing that I think this staff and [Coach Wilkins] and I, we’ve always done, we feel, a pretty good job of making significant jumps improvements in the spring,” Rosenfeld said. “I think compared to a lot of programs, we spend enormous time on individual sessions, film, everything else, and I think it pays off in the fall. Not to have had it for two years, I think it has hurt our development, for sure.”

The Badgers’ commitment to getting better in the spring is reflected by the team’s dedicated weekly training routine. Beginning in February, the team spent multiple hours every weekday practicing on the 80-yard long artificial turf field housed in the McClain Center attached to Camp Randall. While this field doesn’t match the typical dimensions of an outdoor soccer pitch, the Badgers were still able to use it for training and on-field drill sessions while avoiding the harsh Wisconsin weather. The team also lifted three times a week at McClain. There was also a weekly team meeting dedicated to watching film as well as team building sessions, such as candle making and “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunts, meant to foster squad camaraderie.

Rosenfeld also feels that the loss of this offseason infrastructure over the last two spring seasons has made it more difficult for younger players that first stepped into the program during the pandemic.

“That first year, it was just brutal,” Rosenfeld said. “And just not having a spring, I think that’s part of the reason why, Sophia Romine, she transferred. Well, she never had a spring. Just being able to kind of get your feet wet and stuff makes a huge difference. So I think their experience wasn’t typical and it wasn’t necessarily positive in a lot of ways.”

The Wisconsin Women’s soccer program has done all they can to make the best of this situation now this spring as the team played four of a maximum five allotted exhibition matches in 2022. The Badgers completed their first spring exhibition season in over two years on April 23rd with a 1-0 home victory over in-state rival Marquette. The win was the team’s first of the season after falling to fellow Big Ten foe Ohio State 3-2 in Westfield, Indiana to open the spring followed by consecutive 1-1 draws in Madison, first against highly-touted Notre Dame – in a grueling match held at MATC’s Irwin A. & Robert D. Goodman Sports Complex – and then against Michigan State held at the McClimon Soccer Complex.

An additional match against in-state rivals UW-Green Bay was originally scheduled prior to the spring, though weather and scheduling issues at first postponed and then ultimately led to the cancellation of the match against the Phoenix.

While ending the spring on the high note of a victory is certainly nice for the Badgers, marking “W’s” in the win column is never a team’s primary focus during a spring exhibition season. Rather, this time of the year is focused first-and-foremost on the development of and retooling of a team’s roster.

“The information that we get from the spring games are very valuable to us,” Rosenfeld said. “And I think the spring also tells you where you need to work on.”

Heading into the spring, however, there were already some existing areas of play in need of improvement and development for Wisconsin.

The Badgers got off to a hot start in 2021m winning seven of the team’s first ten games and even reaching a No.18 national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Poll in late September. But, this early momentum eventually slowed down the stretch of the season as the team finished Big Ten play with a 3-3-4 record. A regular season finale draw against Iowa qualified them for the final spot in the conference’s postseason tournament where they suffered a close 1-0 loss to regular season conference champions Rutgers. The season ended on a higher note, however, as the team went on an exciting run through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament before falling 1-2 to eventual national semifinalist Santa Clara in the Sweet 16.

The up-and-down 2021 campaign showed both what made the Badgers such a difficult team to beat, with their stingy defense captained by All-American goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer, as well as perhaps their biggest flaw in an overall lack of consistent scoring. This spring, the Badgers have tried to find new ways to stimulate the team’s offensive production while also prioritizing the development of players stepping into new roles while replacing the losses of multiple key starters along the roster.

Offense

Though a tumultuous Wisconsin climate was one of the biggest issues faced by the Badgers this spring, this lack of consistent weather was reflective of the team’s often spotty offense from this past season. The team finished the 2021 regular season with 30 goals scored over 22 total games – a mark which tied for 105th out of 336 qualifying division 1 programs. This included six scoreless outings that resulted in four ties and two losses for the Badgers last fall. These statistics suffered even more during Big Ten play with only eight goals scored over 10 regular season conference games as well as another shutout loss to Rutgers in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament. This mark finished tied for third-worst in the conference last season. The Badgers achieved their 10-6-6 overall record largely thanks to their stout defensive play which allowed just 17 goals and a goals against average of 0.72 per game (27th-best in the nation). The team also finished second behind conference-leader Rutgers in goals allowed during conference play with just eight in 2021.

Ask any member of the team’s roster or coaching staff and they will be one of the first to say their offense often struggled to score goals this past fall.

“Obviously, goal scoring was really hard for us this fall,” assistant coach Marisa Kresge said. “There were a lot of overtime games, a lot of zero games.”

Wisconsin does return its top two goal scorers from last season in midfielder Emma Jaskaniec and forward Nathalie Viggiano. These two accounted for just over half of the Badgers’ goals in the 2021 season with nine and eight goals scored respectively. Though, the Badgers’ coaching staff has looked to change things up schematically this spring to create a more consistent offense.

“We’re definitely playing around with some things, seeing how players fit, seeing what players complement each other, who can kind of come in and make an impact,” Kresge said. “So it’s been a challenge for some of those guys. Okay, this is what we want here. We wanted this last year. Now we have to do this.”

After spending most of this past season playing in a 4-4-2 formation with four backline defenders, four midfielders and two attacking forwards, while also leaning into 3-6-1 formations at times as well. This spring the Badgers have experimented with more midfielder-heavy formations such as a 3-5-2 which utilizes more player movement and flow over the middle of the field.

“We changed systems on them four different times so far,” Kresge said. “So they’re learning different things because we need that flexibility come fall. We want to win games. So we want to make sure that we’re putting ourselves in the best position. People understand the roles, they know the responsibilities and how well can we execute within each one. Certain games call for different things and we have to build that foundation now. So they’ve been tasked with a lot of information, new roles, new players, but they’ve been really open minded throughout the whole thing.”

Wisconsin’s coaches have also emphasized playing with more tempo while continuing to play out of the back. This means the team’s passing moves will begin from deep within their own defensive third with the team’s backs, and primarily center backs, initiating many of these sequences. Therefore, moving quicker to penetrate past opposing players as well as connecting passes between the Badgers’ center backs and midfielders will be a crucial part of the team’s offensive attack as this strategy should help generate additional scoring opportunities on the other half of the field.

This offensive output should hopefully be buoyed as well by the introduction of transfer attacking midfielder Aryssa Mahrt from the University of San Diego who joined the program this spring. Mahrt is originally from Milwaukee and spent time playing club soccer for FC Wisconsin before going to college. The Badgers’ coaching staff initially recruited Mahrt, but she ultimately wished to go to college outside of Wisconsin. Now, she returns to the state coming off a sophomore campaign for the Toreros in which she scored two goals and generated two assists over 15 starts. While her shot scoring percentage was modest (just 5.6 percent), Mahrt’s shot on goal percentage was considerably higher as 18 of her total 36 shots were on target. Coach Kresge acknowledges that Mahrt’s offensive skill set on the field has been difficult to miss throughout the spring.

“She definitely brings a different presence in the way that she plays,” Kresge said. “She’s pretty fast and has some pace. But that’s not the only skill set she has. She’s really quick on top of the ball and is able to find spaces in different areas. She has more of a physical presence. She runs in front of players. She’s willing to compete for balls. So just her overall skill set of things she can do: take people on the dribble, and kind of create something from nothing … So just her overall presence has been a huge attacking spark to our team.”

Mahrt has also helped start multiple offensive transitions which helped gain the Badgers multiple attacking opportunities. She made a key play to start a last-minute scoring sequence in a 1-1 draw against Notre Dame. In the 89th minute, Mahrt stole the ball from a Notre Dame player near centerfield before quickly turning and playing the ball through to generate the team’s lone goal of the game. She was also responsible for the team’s lone goal scored in the team’s other 1-1 draw against Michigan State. Her ability to run in front of opposing defenders to steal the ball away very nearly created another offensive scoring opportunity later on in the second half of this game as well.

While these remarkable offensive performances have been exciting to watch this spring, the ultimate goal still remains to make sure they translate to additional goals come the fall.

“Obviously, we want to win games and we’re playing to win games and competing. But if we tie or lose a game here, it ultimately doesn’t have an effect,” Kresge said. “So getting her and getting her played with different players, rotating players through to see how it’s going to work out and kind of getting her acclimated to our environment.”

This spring has also given Mahrt the opportunity to develop and get accustomed to playing with her new teammates. Freshman midfielder Maddie Ishaug has been impressed since she first saw Mahrt practice with the team and has enjoyed playing with her new fellow midfielder this spring.

“I find her a lot in games and we find each other’s feet all the time,” Ishaug said of her new teammate. “I think we combine well together. She’s very skilled and she has very good dribbling skills. And she’s very quick and makes good decisions on the ball. And her shot is, like, insane. Like actually like the best shot I’ve ever seen. At practice, she’s always scoring bangers.”

Based on the way she’s impressed with her strong leg in practice and fast, physical pace in games this spring, Mahrt is a lock to be one the team’s starters in an attacking center midfielder role alongside Viggiano – a spot that functions much like a forward in Wisconsin’s offensive scheme.

“This spring has been massive and she stepped right in and she didn’t skip a beat,” Kresge said. “[Us coaches] we’re like, this is going to be a huge puzzle piece moving forward this fall. So it’s been really great to work with her and kind of teach her, ‘this is what we want. This is how we see you can be effective. Can you change this? Can we do this here?’, just to help her out and make sure that she’s hitting the ground running come preseason and this fall.”

Players stepping into new roles

This development for less experienced players has been crucial for Wisconsin as the team looks to replace the losses of multiple graduating starters from last season’s squad. These players include forwards Cammie Murtha and Laruen Rice, midfielder Maia Cella and goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer – all of whom received varying All-Big Ten honors and started at least three full seasons over their careers. Both Cella and Murtha started all 22 games last season and the latter’s 55 shots tied with Viggiano for a team-high last fall. Rice was also a multi-year starter who played in the team’s first seven games before missing the remainder of the fall season due to injury. The Badgers additionally lost two lineup regulars in sophomore midfielder Sophia Romine and freshman forward Joyelle Washington. Both of whom transferred after playing 592 and 390 minutes respectively this past fall.

These losses have left some significant holes at all three levels of the team’s roster. Therefore, the Badgers’ coaching staff have tried a few players at new positions this spring to help fill the gaps left by these program-defining players.

“We’re trying to find where players can excel where their skill set can be used the most,” Rosenfled said. “Especially if we see them as maybe a player that we want to contribute, but in the position that they want to play or feel that their best may not work out for them. So we’re doing a little bit of that from a personnel standpoint, just trying to, kind of as a big jigsaw puzzle, piece it together.”

One Badger finding her way into a new role this spring has been Ishaug. The midfielder started the first four games of the 2021 fall season before fracturing her ankle and opting to redshirt the remainder of her inaugural season. Coming in as the No. 62 overall rated recruit in the class of 2021, the Minnesota native scored one goal on four shot attempts over 251 minutes played. This spring, Ishaug has transitioned from her previous attacking center midfielder role into a defensive holding center midfielder position alongside Jaskaniec. This move will have Ishaug leave her longtime attacking position, where she spent her club days with the Minnesota Thunder as well as her first four games in a Badger uniform, to help fill the whole left by graduating senior Maia Cella.

Ishaug feels this spring has been valuable for gaining experience which should help prepare her for this new role come the fall.

“It’s been like large shoes to fill, I would say. But I think every game this spring, I’ve gotten better,” Ishaug said.

While she acknowledges that, at first, she was unsure of the proper on-field spacing and positioning of her defensive center mid spot, Ishaug thinks her development over the course of the spring has been very helpful in fitting into this position.

“I think Paula has been very happy with the progress that I’ve made over the spring…,” Ishaug said. “So I feel a lot more confident now in that role. And I think that that’s helped me a lot to like, demand the ball more and get it at my feet. So I can dribble forward and help us on the attack.”

Freshman Ashley Martinez is another player that has seen more playing time in a new position for the Badgers this spring. Martinez spent her club soccer days playing in a midfield role with Saint Dominic in Missouri, where she was Top Drawer Soccer’s number-one rated in-state recruit. The freshman quickly made the transition into a defensive role upon arriving in Madison, playing in two games for a total of 33 minutes on the outside of Wisconsin’s four-player defensive backline.

As part of the team’s new formations meant to generate more attacking offense, fellow freshman Maia Richters, who started all 22 games in the fall, has moved up from her outside back spot into a higher midfield role. So, with redshirt junior defender Gabby Green recovering from an offseason surgery undergone this winter, Martinez has spent the spring starting as an outside back in Wisconsin’s three-player backline alongside senior Macy Monticello and freshman center back Aidan McConnell.

Martinez feels this starting experience in the spring has helped her become more acclimated to this new role.

“Just getting comfortable, playing against these teams because these are teams we are going to face again in the fall,” Martinez said. “And just growing in confidence and learning as I go. Tactical awareness, who to play the ball, when to stuff, all those things are really what I have been working on.”

Martinez showed this awareness in the team’s final exhibition against Marquette. She made a crucial save on a Marquette corner kick that would have been an otherwise sure-fire goal. The headed corner kick was arched perfectly over Badger goalie Rawnsley with nothing to stop the ball from itching the back of the net were it not for Martinez who was in a good position to head the ball away herself. The freshman also showed improving composure throughout Wisconsin’s 1-1 draw against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish controlled the ball in the Badgers’ defensive half for the majority of the match which forced Martinez into multiple one-on-one situations where she had to stop advancing attackers alone along the outside wing.

While the Badgers’ coaching staff still plans to have Green starting in the backline come the fall, this additional experience for players like Martinez will be extremely valuable for the Badgers heading into that fall as the team looks to get as many starting caliber players on the field as possible.

“People playing different positions has been awesome,” redshirt senior goalkeeper Lily Rawnsley said. “There’s now room for people to come into different roles and there’s starting spots open, so it’s been creating some really good competition. Obviously we all want to succeed, so it’s like a compassionate competition.”

Goalkeeper

Rawnsley herself is one of two options, alongside fellow redshirt senior Erin McKinney, that the Badgers have turned to as a possible replacement for two-time All-American and Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Jordyn Bloomer. Bloomer graduated after last season and was selected with the 26th overall pick by Racing Louisville FC in the 2021 NWSL Draft this past December.

Associate head coach and goalkeepers coach Tim Rosenfeld acknowledged that it would be difficult to replace the multi-year stalwart. Bloomer finished her collegiate career with an 0.823 save percentage and a goals against average of 0.65 along with 27 shutouts while starting 77 games over the past four seasons.

“It is a challenge,” Rosenfeld said. “I think we have very, very capable replacements and right now there is an equal opportunity in the spring.”

McKinney and Rawnsley split starts and playing time throughout the spring. Each made two starts this spring including one game as the full-time goalkeeper (Notre Dame for McKinney and Michigan State for Rawnsley) and alternated halves after McKinney started against Ohio State and Rawnsley was first in net against Marquette.

“After the spring season’s over, we’ll evaluate where they’re at and then make a decision as we head into preseason who will be our number one,” Rosenfeld said. “But right now, I’d say it’s a competition. I think they’re both very, very capable. Just kind of see where the chips fall.”

Rawnsley was the only other Badger goalkeeper to see playing time in the 2021 regular season. She stepped in as Bloomer’s substitute for the second half of a 5-0 win over Eastern Illinois, facing zero shots on goal over 45 minutes played.

The Colorado native came into the Badgers program as a four-year starting keeper for Chaparral High School where she was a two-time all-league first-team honoree, a second-team all-state honoree, and a member of the TeamSnap high school all-state and all-region teams.

Wisconsin head coach Paula Wilkins said of Rawnsley as she came into Wisconsin ahead of the 2017 regular season that, “Lily is somebody that impressed me the first time I saw her because of her stature. She’s big and solid but also athletic. You put all of those together and I think that makes for a good goalkeeper.

Standing 5-foot-10, Rawnsley is the second-tallest goalkeeper on the Badgers’ roster behind junior Alex LaQuaglia. Rawnsley put this height on display in the 72nd minute of the team’s match against Michigan State when she made a leaping, midair grab of a Spartan shot on goal to save it from finding the back of the net. The redshirt senior finished that match with three saves to one goal allowed.

“I feel like a lot of mine is just like decision making,” Rawnsley said when asked what areas she is working to improve this spring. “Obviously goalkeeping, we don’t touch the ball as much as everyone else, so trying to be perfect with our passes out of the back and shot stopping from distance is mostly what I’ve been working on.”

McKinney originally transferred to Wisconsin in 2018 after her freshman season as the starting goalkeeper for the Akron Zips. McKinney started 18 games for Akron in 2018, registering 101 saves to 22 goals allowed and three shutouts. These marks figured out to goals allowed average of 1.20 and a save percentage of 0.821.

While she has not appeared in a regular season game over her first three seasons in Madison, McKinney feels that, while the overall level of competition is higher in the Big Ten compared to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) played in by Akron, her experience as a starter for the Zips helped prepare her now.

“I don’t think I would have had it any other way playing in the MAC and getting that kind of good, mid level college experience,” McKinney said. “I think it prepared me a lot to be able to step up to this next level and be okay with leadership positions and getting put under heat in the back of the goal.”

McKinney showed this poise in her full game against Notre Dame, notching four saves to one goal allowed while facing the constant pressure generated by the Fighting Irish’s aggressive offensive press. Her only goal allowed came off a deflected shot in the second half of this match and had an all-around solid performance otherwise.

This spring has been a valuable time for McKinney to gain more in-game experience with her fellow teammates.

“Goalkeeper is definitely a leadership position, and I want to kind of establish myself in that position and gain respect and gain chemistry with that backline so that we have a good trust whenever we get kind of put on the back of our heels like we did against Notre Dame,” McKinney said.

McKinney and Rawnsley each did their best to make the decision on Wisconsin’s new starting goalkeeper as difficult as possible for the team’s coaches. Both ended the spring with similar overall statistical performances with Rawnsley’s two goals allowed just slightly below McKinney’s three goals allowed. Therefore, it’s difficult to see where the Badgers coaching staff is likely to go with the starting goalkeeper job; though, their solid spring performances should have provided the coaching staff with a strong idea of where each one’s strengths and areas of need improvement lie.

Further improvements made throughout the summer may ultimately help determine who is named the team’s starting goalkeeper as, with three months left to go before the start of the preseason period, there is still plenty of time for additional improvement that could sway the Badger coaching staff’s final decision. As Emma Jaskaniec said when asked about the spring season, “if there’s nothing for improvement, then, I mean, you wouldn’t be playing a sport.”