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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SOCCER MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 30, 2013Paula WilkinsCOACH WILKINS: Very excited to be back at home. I think we've nicknamed our team the "Road Warriors" being on the road for such a young team. Really excited to be undefeated on the road coming back to Madison, obviously, to face two very challenging opponents at Penn State and Ohio State and two critical opponents for the Big Ten. I sort of hesitate to say that because I think every team now in the Big Ten is going to be a big opponent. It's actually a very competitive situation right now where everyone's sort of taking some points off each other. I think after this past weekend I saw even another step from our young group in terms of battling very hard on Friday against Michigan, and turning around and playing another challenging game and getting three points against Michigan State. For me, that's pretty positive, because always on the road in Big Ten, it's challenging. Also excited because our defense posted two shutouts in an area that we really wanted to focus on the past couple weeks in training. We also got the defensive player of the week this week with Genevieve Richard and freshman of the week, Kylie Schwarz, who is a center back. And usually that award goes to a goal scorer or goalkeeper. So we're very pleased that a field player in our back four was able to get that award. Very excited to play Penn State. I know the players are‑‑ they were excited to get back off the bus after eight hours, but they're excited to train this week and prepare for Penn State and Ohio State. Q. Paula, has the novelty of facing your old school worn off? COACH WILKINS: Yeah. The players are all gone that I had. I think there is always some interest of myself because of having helped to build that program and their success. But one of my biggest challenges when I came here was I wanted to be the team that knocks them off that pedestal, and I think we're getting closer and closer to that. Obviously, excited to have them here. But it's going to take some effort and some major focus to do that. It's about the players more than anything. I think I heard Coach Andersen talk about that, about playing Urban Meyer. It's about the players. It's not about my previous history. Q. Aside from Cara, you've had a couple different players step up for you offensively. Kinley is one name that comes to mind. Who else has taken a huge step from this year or last year who has come in and provided right away? COACH WILKINS: Yeah, I think Cara has been great. Cara's work sometimes doesn't show up necessarily in statistics. I know she's our leading scorer. But even in the last couple games, I don't know if she's gotten herself on the scoreboard. But she's created a lot of the reasons why we've gotten on the scoreboard. Rose Lavelle as a freshman has caused some havoc. Michigan had Herrmann marked, and as a freshman, I think that's a great honor. But she is still causing some problems that opened up to players like Kinley, McNicoll and Cara. I don't know. I know going into the Big Ten weekend, we were averaging three goals a game. If had you told me that I would have laughed at you because we've been a defensive push team. But it's exciting to see the players in the final third and what they're creating with those guys. It's not the three of those that are getting other points, but it's the other players and their movement off the ball that's opening space for those guys. Q. You mentioned earning defensive player of the week, but Gen Richard gets overlooked in goal with some of the plays she's made. With this being her first year as a full‑time starter, what has she brought to the team overall and defensively? COACH WILKINS: Gen brings a level of professionalism that is great. Her preparation before games, you talk about football players watching video, Gen probably watches just as much video to learn and advance herself. But the biggest thing is she's made big saves in big games to keep us in it, help us win it, and keep it a victory. I think that's what you need from your goalkeeper, especially going through this part of the season. People always say you need a hot goal scorer and a good goalkeeper, and Gen has the confidence to do that. What people may or may not know from watching us, is we like to play out of the back. Gen is a huge part of even that part, us keeping possession in the back. She has a lot of experience, not here, necessarily, but with the Canadian National Team and playing in the summertime. So she's had a huge impact on our success so far. Q. Can you update us on a couple kids that are in the notables Lindsey Holmes, and McKenna Meuer and how they're progressing and what their role is on the team? COACH WILKINS: Yeah, McKenna is probably the Cal Ripken type player. She is Steady Betty, always there, understands the game. It's so detail oriented that if I ask the question she has the answer to it because she knows what we're trying to do tactically. She's a bit of a drill sargeant in the middle of the field, and her family history of her brother playing here, her father playing here and her two older sisters playing soccer here, she really brings a competitive Badger battle to the field and has been fantastic. The only reason why she stepped off the field is because of a badly sprained ankle. When I looked at it, I thought there was no way she's ever going to play, and she did. She's been great. You won't see stats on her because she's basically doing a lot of the work in the midfield, just the engine of the team. Lindsey Holmes had a little bit of a slow start this season, ended last year starting for us. This year she's slowly working her way in. She hasn't started the last two games, but she's playing more minutes than the players who started. She's bringing an offensive attack to us and getting more and more comfortable in her role. In fact, in the Michigan and Michigan State game I thought she was one of the better players we've had, and she's going to progress into getting more minutes as we go along. Q. Obviously, the unbeaten road record is a pretty big accomplishment. But with this being a younger team, it's a little more surprising. I'd say. What is it about this team that allows them to be so fearless against not even on the road but also at home just period? COACH WILKINS: I think the biggest thing is their cohesiveness. They hold each other accountable because they like each other. I think one thing that's interesting about this group is that they're a group that lingers. I don't know if many people understand what that means. But I've had teams where when they get off the field, they want to get off as fast as they can and get home and get to the next thing. This group lingers around, talks about the game. On the way back, we had players watching the video already. I hadn't even gotten around to watching the video I wanted to give myself a mental break. They're watching the video. In the hotel room on Saturday night, they're watching the Michigan game, talking about it. They've created an environment where they get excited about it. I think they get excited about it because they enjoy playing with each other and they know what they need to do to be successful. I think they've taken away a lot of the distractions on the road. So they're very well road prepared. Q. It's probably not fair to your holder teams, but I think it's worth asking. Where does this team rank or stand among your all time‑‑ with you having coached in National Championships and things like that. You've seen a lot of the good teams. Where does this team rank overall? COACH WILKINS: It's high with the talent that they have. It's fairly high. Don't want to put pressure on them because they're still fairly young. I think the inconsistencies for them still come out, and we're driving home the details in what they need to do in terms of being successful. We've had lapses where we've given up goals where it's because of effort and focus, and we need to move further on with that. What's interesting is we don't have a team captain. It's a whole team leadership driven type of thing. So each of them have stepped up in different times. I think that's quite exciting, because it's not one pressure on one person. So they're high up, but I think their best is still yet to come, which is very exciting. Every game we've played, I think, the Michigan game made us better. The Michigan State game made us even better in a different way. And I think the youth of these guys is just going to make them better and better each game. Q. In season's past maybe around this time, Kelter might have had a wandering eye over what's going on at the hockey Arena how is she different now this year without that being in the back of her mind? COACH WILKINS: I'm not going to lie, it's nice to have her focused on one thing. I know she would say I went to watch practice and came back. She's just really focused. Basically we have two seniors on the team. One who plays consistently which is Alev in her fifth year, and she's talked about the ending of her career. Part of that is also her athletic career, it's not just hockey. She's going to be‑‑ her end of her soccer career is the end of her collegiate career, for sure. I think that leadership and if you've known anything about Alev, she's extremely competitive. So to have her focus on one thing and that urgency that you need your team to have, it's been fantastic. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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