Following two weeks on the road, the Badgers return home this weekend for their final two non-conference matches before the start of Big Ten play. Wisconsin (4-2-1) will open a four-game home stand Friday against Pepperdine (3-3-1) and wrap up the weekend Sunday against Nevada (0-5-1).

After putting on an impressive offensive display two weeks ago en route to winning the Hoosier Classic, the Wisconsin offense went cold last weekend, scoring only one goal in a 1-0 loss and 1-1 tie to Boston and Harvard, respectively.

The Badgers outshot the competition 34-19 in the two games, but poor weather conditions and tough defense made it tough to find the back of the net.

“I don’t want to blame anything, but the weather just did not play to our advantage,” senior forward Taylor Walsh said. “We were playing on a terrible, muddy field with standing water. We created enough chances, but it was just hard to score goals.”

UW head coach Paula Wilkins hopes spending the next two weeks at home will help the team work on those issues and improve its play when it hits the road again Oct. 3 to face Ohio State.

“I think it will make the team a little bit hungrier and more focused,” Wilkins said. “One of the goals for our team this year is to win games on the road in the Big Ten. The environment on the road in the conference will be difficult, and it’s my job to prepare them for that.”

Although the Badgers hope to use these final non-conference games to prepare for the Big Ten, they have been careful not to look ahead to next week’s conference opener against Illinois.

“What we’ve talked about all season is ‘every game matters,’” Wilkins said. “Every game we want to get better; we’re not focused on the Big Ten yet because we look at these as games where we need to get better as a team.”

Pepperdine comes into the weekend looking to extend its current two-game winning streak. The Waves will be playing away from home for the first time this season as they set out on a nine-game road trip after starting the season with seven games at home.

Friday will be Pepperdine’s third match this season against Big Ten opponents. The Waves recently earned a 1-0 overtime victory over Iowa and lost in overtime to Northwestern 3-2 as a part of the Pepperdine Nike Challenge.

Wilkins, however, does not believe the game will provide an opportunity to compare her team with other Big Ten opponents.

“I don’t know how they are this year, Northwestern and Iowa,” Wilkins said. “I respect their coaches greatly, and I expect they are improved from last year, but I won’t really know how we match up against them until we face them on the field.”

The Wolf Pack of Nevada enter the weekend in search of their first win of the season. First, they will travel Friday to face UW-Green Bay, a team the Badgers defeated 1-0 just over three weeks ago to earn their first victory of the season.

Nevada has struggled on both sides of the ball this season, as it has been outshot 84-64 and opponents have outscored the Wolf Pack 14-3.

For the Badgers, this weekend presents an opportunity to return to a more comfortable and friendly environment after struggling on the road last weekend. Much of the problems for Wisconsin were caused by nerves and the youth of the team.

“We just need to focus in front of the box and calm down,” Walsh said. “We get a little overexcited sometimes in front of the goal, but I think it will come. We create enough opportunities, and eventually it will come.”

Despite the setback in Boston, Wisconsin remains focused on the task ahead, hoping to use its struggles to learn for the future.

“I don’t think those games are going to affect us in a negative way,” Walsh said. “If anything, we’ve seen what we need to work on, and we’ve seen what we’re capable of doing. I think we’ll just look at it and realize we just need to improve from here to keep that from happening again.”