Wisconsin women’s soccer recap: Badgers fall 2-1 to Notre Dame

On Thursday night, Wisconsin Badgers women’s soccer fell 2-1 in double overtime to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at McClimon Field.

It was a back and forth affair in the Badgers first home match of the season, with the Irish opening the scoring just eight minutes into the match. Olivia Wingate broke down the wing with the ball, and her ball across the face of goal found the foot of freshman Korbin Albert who slotted it home.

But Wisconsin would not let the McClimon faithful down in their response. Senior forward Cammie Murtha was dragged down in the box in the 60th minute, and Emma Jaskaniec fired home the ensuing penalty kick.

As nighttime fell on Madison, the game headed to overtime, where it would be the visitors who drew final blood. After earning a penalty kick for themselves, Sammi Fisher made no mistakes from the spot and the Fighting Irish walked it off under the lights.

While a loss is never fun, there were positives to take away from Thursday’s home opener. For one, Notre Dame was Wisconsin’s hardest out of conference test, and the Badgers now face a stretch of five extremely winnable matches before hitting the road for a St. Croix River Derby conference opener against Minnesota on September 18.

What’s more, Notre Dame looks like a solid NCAA Tournament caliber team, and it’s not without importance that Wisconsin presented as more or less the same level as their visitors. Though the stats slightly favored the Irish, the Badgers absolutely could have come away with a victory on another night.

Wisconsin women’s soccer’s next match will be this Sunday, as the Badgers return to McClimon Field, aka The Merseyside off Mendota, aka Camp needs a Nou press box, aka the Chain Link Fortress, to take on Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m. CT.