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ing,'' she said. "It's great to have that foundation.'' In this context, it's great to have a contact like Wilkins, too. "Paula and I are long-time friends and when the opportunity presented itself here, I didn't see a better way to start down a new path,'' said Moscato, 28. "I had basically made the deci- sion at the end of the spring that I may want to move on after the Olympics.'' Moscato had retired from soccer once before, when she was 23, only to get the urge to compete again with the goal of reaching the Olympics. She conceded that she pretty much lives her life in the moment. "And by no means am I turning in the towel,'' she said, suggesting the door was still open. "Cracked a little bit.'' Although she may start another Olympic cycle, she can't predict if she will see it through. "I'm not 23 so I wouldn't be able to come back as easily,'' she said. Her priority, for now, is to transition from play- er to coach. "My role, almost in my own life, has changed a little bit,'' she said. "My focus is less about me. Already in this first week (on the job) I feel an allegiance to the team — making them the best players that they can be and trying to be a facilitator in that way.'' What has Moscato seen thus far out of this group of UW players? "We have the ability and the po- tential to go a long way this season,'' she said. "There's a lot of talent, a lot of drive and a lot of passion on the team. They're very coachable. They seem very receptive and open to us as a staff. Slowly but surely we're going to be a very good team and tough to contend with.'' The Badgers will get an early read on where they stand when they open the Big Ten season Sunday at No. 7 Penn State. Moscato will re- mind the players not to play on pure emotion. "There's a rivalry there and they're going to want to go out and win it 42 » VARSITY SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 for us,'' said Moscato, speaking for Wilkins and Rosenfeld, the ex-Penn Staters. "But they have to keep in mind it's for them.'' And about them. At that, Wilkins has been removed long enough from the Nittany Lions — this is her fifth year at Wisconsin — that she can say without hesitation, "I spent 13 years at Penn State; it's a huge part of my coaching career. But I'm invested with the players here and if there's any emotion, it's for them.'' Oh, by the way, there is. "The emotion part is a good part,'' she said. So is the commitment that she has made to her players. "We want to play teams that challenge and show us how to get better,'' Wilkins said, "because we're preparing for the future all the time. We talk about performance, not the results. I want the perfor- mance and effort to be where it needs to be in that game (Sunday). The outcome will happen.'' Nobody understands that better than Moscato, the pupil turned teacher.