Photo by Jeff Miller

Photo: Jeff Miller

Cara Walls x’15 isn’t sure whether she chose soccer or soccer chose her.

From the time she entered organized competition, Walls simply had a knack for the sport. “When I started playing — and this is going to sound bad — it was just very easy for me to score goals,” she says.

That much hasn’t changed for the senior forward. With twenty-eight goals over three years at Wisconsin, Walls credits her unique combination of aggressiveness and late-game composure for making her the Badgers’ go-to scorer. “I always like to attack,” she says. “My mindset is to go forward and go at people whenever I get the ball.”

Last season, Walls led Wisconsin in goals — nine total, including four game-winning scores — for the third consecutive year. In 2012, she was selected to the second-team All-Big Ten; she made the Big Ten All-Freshmen team in 2011.

Walls credits some of her success to growing up with a valuable resource: her older brother, Tony. After years of practicing with her in their Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, backyard, he starred at UW-Green Bay before latching on as a defender with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire in 2012 and Major Indoor Soccer League’s Milwaukee Wave this season.

And here’s the real kicker: Walls says she could hold her own against her brother, even though he’s a professional, adding that she loves to kid him about that.

After roaring out to an 8–2–2 start last season, the women’s soccer team dropped five of its last seven games, failing to advance to the NCAA tournament. Walls, citing fatigue as a possible culprit, says the team is working to avoid a similar fate this fall. With a brief taste of the tournament her sophomore season, she is determined to help her team qualify again in her final go-round.

“As a senior, I want to leave the program better than when I came here,” says Walls, who is majoring in environmental and international studies. “I want to come in and make an impact — hopefully not only making the [NCAA] tournament, but making it farther than we ever have.”

Badger fan Bella Lund received a surprise before the UW football game against Purdue in September. Her mother, U.S. Army Capt. Jane Renee “J.R.” Lund, was on the field to meet her. Captain Lund had been on a tour of duty in Afghanistan and not scheduled to return until October. Instead, they shared their surprise reunion with 80,000 spectators.

The Badger volleyball team is making its mark. The squad set a school record for the number of digs — 70 — in a three-set match when it played against Colgate in September. A “dig” is a hit that prevents an opponent’s shot from scoring, keeping a volley alive. The previous record, 69, had been set by the 2011 team against Minnesota.

After a fast start in nonconference play, the women’s soccer team began the Big Ten portion of its season ranked number 18 in the country. The Badgers were undefeated in six away games during the early part of the season.

A. J. Cochran. Photo: Bryce Richter.

When A. J. Cochran x’15 is on the soccer field, people tend to notice. It starts with his size: at six foot three, and just under two hundred pounds, he sometimes literally sticks out above the competition. But coaches around the country are also talking about his skills, and doors are beginning to open for this sophomore.

The St. Louis native first played internationally as part of the Under-18 squad for the United States, traveling to Argentina and Chile. He also competed on a tour in Europe before returning to the States to make big contributions to the Badger men’s team.

Cochran, a defender, started in eighteen games during his freshman season, scoring one goal and three assists. His play was impressive enough to garner a unanimous vote for the Big Ten’s All-Freshman Team in 2011, and it earned him a coveted spot on the national Under-20 training squad. He practiced with that team during the summer, hoping to remain on the roster through the U-20 World Cup in 2013. He also practiced with the Chicago Fire, a Major League Soccer team.

It’s a lot to handle — even without throwing college into the mix, but Cochran can rely on voices of experience. His father, John, played soccer at Maryville University, and his sister Taylor is a gymnast at UW-La Crosse.

Cochran also played basketball, baseball, and football as a child, but says his father helped him realize his true potential. “I would sit down with my dad and have talks with him,” he recalls, “and he thought that soccer was probably the best path to take if I wanted to play a Division I college sport.”

That dedication is rewarded, Cochran says, when he puts on a U.S. national jersey.

“Not many people can say they’ve gotten to represent their country, and I’m very humbled to be able to have done it,” he says. “That, by far, has been the best accomplishment.”