Wisconsin women's soccer head coach Paula Wilkins will keep a consistent blog throughout the  spring season to track the team's progress and other tidbits. Check back to UWBadgers.com for regular updates.

Another day and another blog! It was a crazy weekend this past weekend as we had three games in two days. Needless to say, the players were sore and tired at the end of our third game on Sunday afternoon.

We started the weekend with a match on Saturday against Illinois State in Normal, Ill.  I completely enjoyed the three and a half hour trip to Illinois State with a great group of players in my van. It was very quiet as they all studied in the van. We had a successful trip to Illinois State winning 4-1, but the game was a little funky as we only played 9 v 9.  It took a while for our players to figure out the system and get their rhythm back playing against outside competition. The big goal scorer of the game was Paige Adams with her first hat trick of her career here at Wisconsin.

After the game, we immediately got back in the vans and headed back to Madison. We got home around 8 pm just in time to have the players get home, eat and sleep to prepare for their next game at 10:30 am on Sunday. It was a grueling schedule, but we wanted to push the players out of their comfort zones physically.  We played Central Michigan at 10:30 am and drew, 0-0. I was disappointed with the result and performance. However, this is what the spring is all about, challenging players and playing them in different roles along with developing the entire program's mentality. As I told the players, this is a continuous process, and one we must continue to work on together. 

Wisconsin women's soccer head coach Paula Wilkins will keep a consistent blog throughout the  spring season to track the team's progress and other tidbits. Check back to UWBadgers.com for regular updates.

It's been difficult to keep up with my blog, because I have been traveling quite a bit these past few weeks. As I mentioned before, I was in Las Vegas this past weekend recruiting. The difficult part of recruiting this weekend was the weather in Las Vegas. The wind was absolutely incredible on Saturday and Sunday, and everyone who watches soccer knows how much the wind impacts the game. The wind was so bad that a goal toppled over, a goalkeeper scored off a punt, and several teams had difficulty crossing midfield when they were playing against the wind.

At times it was difficult to judge talent, but I was excited to watch several of the players we have identified and hope will come to Wisconsin. I never really had the chance to enjoy Las Vegas, as my flight was canceled leaving Madison on Thursday night. Therefore, I had to chance the early flight on Friday morning. Needless to say I wasn't happy to be getting up Friday morning at 3:45 am, only to get to Las Vegas to go to the fields immediately until 9 pm. It was a very long day!

Wisconsin women's soccer head coach Paula Wilkins will keep a consistent blog throughout the  spring season to track the team's progress and other tidbits. Check back to UWBadgers.com for regular updates.

It is the second week of my blog, and what a busy week I have had already.

Monday was all about training in the morning and recruiting in the afternoon. I took a quick trip to the Chicago area to watch a game and sit on a recruiting panel. Needless to say, I got home at 12:30 am and got just enough sleep for training at 8 am on Tuesday. Tuesday was a great day as we had team training and several individual sessions. I was really pleased with the improvement I have seen with the players technically over the past few weeks. I did some office work, sending e-mails and making phone calls, and then headed to train a local club team. It is fun to work with younger players sometimes, as it gives me a different perspective as a coach.

Wisconsin women's soccer head coach Paula Wilkins will keep a consistent blog throughout the  spring season to track the team's progress and other tidbits. Check back to UWBadgers.com for regular updates.

With much encouragement from the staff on the fourth floor, I have decided to write a blog about the daily occurrence of the women's soccer program at Wisconsin and tidbits about Wisconsin along the way.

When I was a player at UMass, I believed coaching would be the ideal job, as you would only have to come in for training around 1 pm and be done by 4 pm each day. I was completely surprised when I got into coaching at Penn State that it was much more time intensive and physically demanding. I hope to walk you through our spring training and beyond.

We are currently in our nontraditional season, and we've had very busy days.  In the offseason, we spend a significant amount of time developing the players and the team's mentality through individual sessions, meetings, fitness training and team training. This is where we feel we develop the program and the team for next year. This Friday was a bit atypical, but it started at 8 am with the extra fitness group doing a workout for 30 minutes. At 8:30 am, the individual sessions started and we finished the last individual session around 1 pm. Today a bunch of players came onto the turf to do some extra individual stuff, which is always great to see. I have one meeting left with a player to discuss her fitness and her mentality to training, so today is a generally light day. I will finish up with some recruiting emails before the weekend.

The individual training has been great for me as a coach, as I get to know the players on a different level and get to address their specific needs. Monday we'll start the week off great, with training at 7:45 am. We are focusing on attacking in the final third this week in preparation for our upcoming matches, and I am hoping to see a difference in our movement off the ball in the final third.

Personally, this has been a great journey for me in my coaching career at Wisconsin. It has been a great challenge to rebuild a program, and it has had its ups and downs.  However, I truly believe I have grown as a coach, and I will continue to be challenged in the next few seasons. I have completely enjoyed my transition to Madison, and every Friday I find a new restaurant to eat at, so along with blogging about our spring training, I hope to let people know a little more about Madison and everything it has to offer. 

Well, I will focus on the food... I will have a food review for you next week. However, last night I went to Monty's Blue Plate on the east side for a piece of pie, and I have to suggest to everyone to try the pie from Monty's or at Hubbard if you are on the west side, so good. Last night was caramel apple walnut, and I will be back for another one. 

Also, to keep myself motivated to run, I have decided to try to run from my house in Madison, Wis. back to my hometown, Middletown, Pa.  It is a total of 810 miles, door to door (at least that is what Mapquest says), and I am attempting to run it by totaling my daily mileage running.  As of right now, I think I am somewhere near Milton, Wis, and I only have 765.5 miles to go to reach Middletown.  I will keep you updated.  Have a great weekend, and think about us coaches, as I will be meeting with a recruit on Saturday, no rest for the weary.

- Paula Wilkins

Monday night I attended the student-athlete Career Fair. This was a unique opportunity for student-athletes to network with representatives from different companies, most of whom were former UW athletes. I was pretty excited about this event because I'm now in the process of looking for internships and beginning to really think about what I want to do post graduation. I've always been told that networking is one of the best ways to land the job that you want, so my main goal tonight was to talk to as many people, and begin to form as many relationships as possible.

By Whitney Owusu, Wisconsin women's soccer

"Cherish every moment, because these four years will go by so fast and before you know it, you'll be a senior playing in your last collegiate game." These were the words I heard countless times from coaches, upperclassmen and alums since the time I entered this program three years ago. And like most people, I didn't believe them until I found myself beginning my last preseason ever as a Badger.

By Michele Dalton, Wisconsin women's soccer

It was disappointing that we didn't get the result we had hoped for this weekend. We battled for 90 minutes, and unfortunately came out on the losing end. But, in the words of our coaches, "As soon as the whistle blew for the end of the game, the 2010 season began." This harsh realization was hard to swallow, but then I looked around.
 
I still get another shot, another opportunity to play the sport I love... the seniors don't. For them, the ride stopped at the sound of that whistle. A ride for many that began during youth, evolved into a love through adolescence, and resulted in a passion by adulthood. What's left is a lifetime of memories, of moments that define the women we've become today. The harsh realization became a little easier to accept once I thought about the seniors.
 

Please join Jacqueline Boscacci as she chronicles all the action from Friday's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 match between the Badgers and No. 7 Boston College with the Gameday Blog.

While the Badgers continue their run in the NCAA tournament, I (Jacqueline Boscacci, Athletic Communications Assistant), will be documenting the journey. The Badgers landed in Boston last night, getting settled in the hotel for a good night's rest.

The team started its Sweet 16 journey over 24 hours ago, check it out here.

By Michele Dalton, women's soccer goalkeper

Let's just put something into perspective real quick:

T (Taryn Francel): Game-winning goal in OT to defeat UW Green Bay

Darcy (Riley): assist to T's goal

Flann (Meghan Flannery): Lost count of own corner kick goals/how many assists off of corners and crosses??

Whit-O (Whitney Owusu): Header goal vs. Santa Clara in last minute

"Hockey" (Alev Kelter): Two (Yes, two) consecutive header goals to come back and defeat DePaul with how many minutes left??

EJ (Erin Jacobsen): UNREAL first time volley into upper 90 to defeat Northwestern with 52 seconds left

Roxy (Roxanne Carlson): Lone, game-winning goal to send Wisconsin into the Sweet 16!!

Nos (Laurie Nosbusch): Hat trick against Indiana, game-winning goal in double OT vs. Iowa

Paige (Adams): Crazy goal vs. Penn State AND lone goal vs. Michigan State

Gundy (Lauren Gunderson): Two shutouts

Moni (Monica Lam-Feist): With 18 seconds left ties Ohio State!!!

Leigh (Williams): SICK goal vs. ASU 1:39 into the game

LJ (Lindsey Johnson): BING! Enough said...

Krista (Liskevych): PK vs. North Dakota State

(Lauren) Cochlin: Second goal vs. Marquette


EVERY single individual has impacted the University of Wisconsin women's soccer teams' success this season!! If a name wasn't mentioned, it's probably due to my short-term memory loss... not to take away from any single person's accomplishment. The list above is nothing less than incredible. Look at the stats from any other team in the country and I seriously doubt you will see that many players have a substantial impact in a game, in a season, in a career.