PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Wisconsin had played 360 minutes of Big Ten soccer this season without conceding a goal. Rutgers needed nine minutes and 57 seconds.
Ashley Baran scored at 9:57, Julia Joseph broke a 1-1 tie at 59:58 and Lilia Calvert added the third at 85:35, and Rutgers beat No. 14 Wisconsin 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at Yurcak Field. It ended the Badgers’ nine-match unbeaten run and their streak of four straight clean sheets, and it was Rutgers’ first win since the Big Ten opener at Oregon on Sept.
10, 17 days and three one-goal losses ago.
They came in at 2-4-3 and 1-3-0 in the Big Ten, beaten 1-0 at No. 12 Washington, 2-1 by Purdue and 1-0 by No. 12 UCLA on Thursday night, and they had not scored since Olivia Russomanno’s goal at 35:59 against Purdue a week ago. Baran ended that drought at 153 minutes and 58 seconds of soccer. Sunday’s shot count read exactly the same as Thursday’s, 15, and almost nothing else about it did.
Both of Rutgers’ Big Ten wins this season have now ended somebody’s unbeaten streak.
Wisconsin came east as the No. 14 team in the coaches poll, 7-1-2 overall and 3-0-1 in the Big Ten, without a loss since a season-opening defeat to No. 6 TCU on Aug. 13. The Badgers drew 0-0 at Illinois to open conference play, then beat Northwestern, Indiana and Maryland, and outscored the league 5-0 across the four matches. On Thursday in College Park, Taylor Gordon scored at 24:50, top center off her right foot, for her second goal of the season, Drew Stover made two saves, and Wisconsin held Maryland to four second-half shots.
This is Paula Wilkins’ 20th season in Madison. She is the winningest coach in program history, a seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year whose Wisconsin alumni include Rose Lavelle, and the Badgers reached the NCAA Tournament again last fall. The Big Ten coaches picked them fourth this preseason. They picked Rutgers 15th. Wisconsin led the all-time series 5-4-2 coming in but had won once in four trips to Piscataway, and Rutgers won the last meeting 1-0 in Madison on Sept. 12, 2024.
The Badgers are built from the back. Stover, a senior, started all 22 matches last season with 10 shutouts and made second-team All-Big Ten, and she, senior defender Hailey Baumann and sophomore defender Kiara Gilmore were all named to the conference’s Players to Watch list in August. Izy Traub, a freshman midfielder from Plano, Texas, who won four Dallas Cup titles with FC Dallas before arriving in Madison, started alongside two other freshmen, KK Panella and Jane Rogers.
Lineup
GK: Olivia Bodmer
D: Julia Joseph, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey, Patricia Tsokos
M: Gabriela Gil, Tommi Valente
F: Lilia Calvert, Reilly McGlinn, Ashley Baran, Marian Dunne
Subs: Sophia Stiles, Bea Tinoco, Olivia Russomanno, Audrey Cain, Lily Ann Phillips, Jayme Malanda, Amanda Thornton, Madelyn O’Neill, Riley Morris, Emma Johns
Mike O’Neill sent out the same eleven that started against UCLA, with Gabriela Gil back in midfield three days after she went off at 73:08 on Thursday aggravating an earlier ankle injury. She played 63 minutes. Patricia Tsokos started at left back for a third straight match and played 71.
The substitutions ran to 34, up from 25 against Purdue and 30 against UCLA, with 10 substitutes used and 20 outfield players on the field. The first half was nine changes again, all of them between 24:43 and 35:43.
The halftime reset put eight starters back on at once and left out the same one as Thursday, with Sophia Stiles staying on in Morgan Hippeli’s place for the second straight match. The second half brought 17 more changes in five blocks, the last of which sent Hippeli back on at 81:53 for the final eight minutes.
Wilkins went the other way. She used three substitutes, Gordon, Margaret Sisk and Jenna Baumann, rotated them through 12 changes, and played seven outfielders the full 90.
Lindsey Hailey was, again, the only Scarlet Knight in the outfield who never came off.
Baran Breaks Wisconsin’s Shutout Streak Inside 10 Minutes
Wisconsin had the first look, a Rogers attempt off target at 1:20, and Baran answered with one wide of her own at 2:17. Both teams were flagged offside inside the first eight minutes, Rutgers at 5:57 and Wisconsin at 7:05, and Erin Connolly, one of the Badgers’ two leading scorers last fall, put one off target at 9:02.
Bodmer took the goal kick at 9:10. Rutgers had a throw-in at 9:33. Twenty-four seconds later Baran finished bottom center off her left foot, with Reilly McGlinn credited with the assist, and Rutgers led 1-0.
It was the first goal Wisconsin had conceded in Big Ten play this season.
The lead lasted five minutes and 21 seconds. Delaney Cox fouled Baran at 13:20 to give Rutgers a free kick that went nowhere, and at 15:18 Traub equalized, top right off her right foot, unassisted. It was the freshman’s first shot of the afternoon. She would take three more.
The next 10 minutes belonged to nobody. Tsokos fouled Rogers at 16:44, Traub went off target at 17:41 and Rutgers was caught offside again at 21:11. Wilkins made the first change of the day at 24:43, Gordon on for Abby Ballek, and Mike O’Neill matched it at the same mark with Stiles for Hippeli. Jenna Baumann replaced Anya Gulbrandsen at 26:24, and Wisconsin won the first corner of the match at 26:55.
From there Wisconsin pressed, and Bodmer answered. Tommi Valente fouled Traub at 28:12, and Hailey Baumann’s shot at 28:40 went bottom center, where Bodmer saved it. Mike O’Neill made four changes at 29:32, Russomanno for Calvert, Jayme Malanda for McGlinn, Emma Johns for Baran and Amanda Thornton for Marian Dunne, and Rutgers took its only first-half corner at 30:31. Audrey Cain came on for Gil at 33:00. At 34:39 Traub went top right and Bodmer saved that one too.
The third wave came at 35:43, Bea Tinoco for Joseph, Lily Ann Phillips for Valente and Madelyn O’Neill for Tsokos. Margaret Sisk came on for Rogers at 36:39 and forced a third save at 39:02, bottom center. Thornton put Rutgers’ third shot of the half off target at 39:53, and the last five minutes were throw-ins and goal kicks.
Wisconsin outshot Rutgers 7-3 in the first half and put four on target to Rutgers’ one. Corners were 1-1. Each side committed two fouls, and Rutgers was flagged offside twice to Wisconsin’s once. There were no cards. Bodmer made three saves. Stover made none.
Rutgers put one shot on target in the first half, and it counted.
Julia Joseph Breaks the Tie and Lilia Calvert Comes Back On to End It
The halftime whistle brought the reset. Wilkins restored three of her own, Rogers, Ballek and Gulbrandsen. McGlinn was booked for unsporting behavior at 48:29, and in the same stretch of play Traub had a shot blocked. Panella had a shot blocked at 52:23. At 56:40 Connolly went off target and Baran was shown the second Rutgers yellow of the half, also for unsporting behavior.
Then Rutgers took the lead back. It won a corner at 58:34, had a throw-in at 59:16 and saw Baran put a shot off target at 59:49. Nine seconds later Joseph, a defender, finished top right off her right foot, with Calvert credited with the assist. It was 2-1 at 59:58.
Rutgers had led once already on Sunday. This time it held.
Rutgers won another corner at 60:35 and Joseph went looking for a second at 61:17, off target. Panella went wide at 62:18, and Mike O’Neill emptied the front of the team at the same mark with Johns for Calvert, Thornton for McGlinn, Russomanno for Gil, Riley Morris for Baran and Malanda for Dunne. Tinoco and Phillips replaced Valente and Tsokos at 64:27.
What followed was Rutgers’ best spell of the afternoon, and the substitutes took every shot of it. Thornton had one blocked at 64:54 and Rutgers took a corner at 64:58. Morris was blocked at 65:35 and Russomanno three seconds later. Another corner came at 65:42. Then Stover had to work, bottom center from Russomanno at 66:21, top center from Phillips at 66:39 and bottom center from Thornton at 67:53. Six shots and two corners in 2:59, three saves, no goal.
Stover made all three of her saves in 92 seconds of clock.
Wisconsin’s reply was patient and mostly wide. Connolly went off target at 69:36. Wilkins sent Jenna Baumann and Sisk back on at 71:15, Russomanno fouled Jenna Baumann at 72:33 and Thornton put another one off target at 73:37. Tsokos returned for Johns at 73:59. Malanda fouled Panella at 75:54, and at 76:26 Cox put Wisconsin’s only second-half shot on target, top center, where Bodmer saved it. Thornton had one more blocked at 76:53, her fifth shot of the match and the team high.
At 77:47 both coaches reset at once. Mike O’Neill sent six starters back on, Gil, Valente, Baran, Dunne, McGlinn and Calvert, and Wilkins restored Ballek, Rogers and Gulbrandsen. McGlinn and Ballek each committed a foul, Wisconsin was caught offside at 78:37 and Panella went wide at 81:13. Four minutes after coming back on, Valente, Baran and Dunne came back off at 81:53 for Thornton, Malanda and Hippeli.
Rogers had a shot blocked at 82:12 and fouled Thornton at 85:00, and 35 seconds after the free kick Calvert finished bottom left off her right foot, unassisted. She had been back on the field for seven minutes and 48 seconds. It was her third career goal, and all three have come at Yurcak after the 83rd minute.
Calvert was booked for unsporting behavior 63 seconds later at 86:38, the third Rutgers yellow of the half. Wisconsin took its second corner at the same mark, and the last four minutes were three Bodmer goal kicks.
Rutgers outshot Wisconsin 12-8 in the second half and put five on target to Wisconsin’s one. Rutgers won the corners 4-1. Fouls were 4-4. Wisconsin was flagged offside once. Rutgers took all three cards. Bodmer made one save. Stover made three.
Over 90 minutes the shots finished 15-15. Rutgers put six on target to Wisconsin’s five and won the corners 5-2. The substitutes took nine of Rutgers’ 15 shots, put three on target and did not score. The starters took six, put three on target and scored with all three. All three Rutgers players who were booked, McGlinn, Baran and Calvert, also had a hand in a goal, and Wisconsin finished without a card.
Rutgers is now 3-4-3 overall and 2-3-0 in the Big Ten, and three goals is its most in a match since the 4-2 win over Princeton on Sept. 6. Wisconsin drops to 7-2-2 and 3-1-1. The all-time series is level at 5-5-2, with Rutgers winning the last two meetings. Bodmer has 48 saves on the season.
The Scarlet Knights go back on the road next, to Iowa on Sunday, Oct. 4, roughly 1,000 miles west of Yurcak, then come home for Northwestern on Oct. 8 and Nebraska on Oct. 11. The middle of the Big Ten schedule starts now, and for once Rutgers walks into it having won.
Wisconsin had not given up a Big Ten goal in 360 minutes.
Rutgers scored three in 90.
