INSIDE
WOMEN'S SOCCER
BY JEREMY WODAJO
@BADGERWSOCCER
SCHEDULE (8-2-2, 3-1-1)
LAST WEEK
Oct. 12
at Illinois
L, 2-3
COMING UP
Oct. 18
#24 Nebraska
7 p.m.
Oct. 20Iowa
1 p.m.
Oct. 24Minnesota 7 p.m.
Oct. 27
at Indiana
12:30 p.m.
Nov. 2
Northwestern
1 p.m.
Back breaker: Schwarz
anchors strong back line
Freshman emerging as top defender in Big Ten
oming into the 2013 season, UW head coach Paula
Wilkins' freshman class
was heralded as one of the
best in the country.
Wilkins, who has seen her
fair share of collegiate talent, even proclaimed them to
be among the top five groups
she's recruited in her days as a
head coach.
It did not take long for the
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VARSITY October 17, 2013
rest of the soccer community
to see what everyone else was
seeing, as the Badgers' freshmen hit the ground running
during UW's non-conference
slate and continued to shine
into the Big Ten schedule.
Among the talented group
lies one of the conference's
top defenders, but you would
never know it. Kylie Schwarz,
a soft spoken native of Plym-
outh, Minn., has started every game for
UW, playing an instrumental role in all
three of the team's shutouts.
"Playing defender is a very unrewarding position in the first place," said
Wilkins, who was an All-America defender for UMass during her playing days.
"Those players rarely show up in the stat
line and are asked to do most of the dirty
work in front of goal.
"It takes a special kind of person to
want to play defense and Kylie fits that
bill perfectly."
Schwarz, who was named the Big Ten
Freshman of the Week following UW's
weekend shutouts of then 13th-ranked
Michigan (Sept. 27) and Michigan State
(Sept. 29), also tallied her first career
goal at Illinois last Saturday.
Along with Ali Heller and Brianna
Stelzer, Schwarz completes the trifecta
of one of the Big Ten's top back lines, a
group that is allowing just 1.23 goals per
game.
"I don't want to put any pressure on
them because they're fairly young, but
this group is special," Wilkins added.
"They believe in us as coaches and they
believe in each other and that's the sign
of a special team."
Schwarz and Co. will have five more
chances to show just how special they
are as UW returns home this weekend to
begin a three-game Big Ten homestand.
