Thursday State Sports Briefs: UW's Kelly hopes to play Saturday

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin defensive end Brendan Kelly hopes to play on Saturday night, when the Badgers host Utah State.

Kelly injured a hamstring in last weekend’s 10-7 loss at Oregon State. He’s been practicing this week, but his chief understudy – Pat Muldoon – is expected to see a lot of playing time. Muldoon, a redshirt junior, replaced Kelly after his injury. Muldoon led the Badger defensive line with four tackles and a pass break-up. The Badgers are 1-1 going into Saturday night’s contest. Utah State is 2-0.

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Notre Dame’s departure from the Big East Conference could end a long-time rivalry with Marquette in men’s basketball. The Fighting Irish and the Golden Eagles first played each other in 1920 – and they’ve met 116 times, with Notre Dame winning 80 of those games and Marquette 36. Wisconsin is the only team that Marquette has played more. Yesterday, Notre Dame said it would leave the Big East and join the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports but football. Marquette athletic director Larry Williams said Notre Dame’s departure is just part of the reality of conference realignments. And he repeated Marquette’s commitment to the Big East and quote, “solidifying our place as one of the nation’s elite programs.”

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The University of Wisconsin women’s soccer team is off to its best start since 2004, after winning at UW-Milwaukee 2-1 in overtime yesterday. Joana Bielefeld scored the game-winner in the 95th minute, on a header from a corner kick. Sammy Vovos opened the scoring for Milwaukee, and Kodee Williams had the Badgers’ only goal in regulation. Wisconsin out-shot UWM 20-10, as the Badgers improved to 6-1. Milwaukee’s loss dropped the Panthers to 1-4-1.

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Pulaski High School senior Cody Wichmann will play his college basketball at UW-Milwaukee. The 6-5 shooting guard gave his verbal commitment to the Panthers yesterday, after touring the east side Milwaukee campus. He said a big weight has been lifted off his shoulders, now that a two-year recruiting campaign has ended. Wichmann said UWM recruited him the hardest – and he got along with the Panthers’ coaches very well. He picked Milwaukee over schools that included Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and South Dakota. Wichmann was a coaches’ all-state first team member a year ago, when he averaged 15 points, four rebounds, and almost three assists per game.

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Jake Reilly of UW-Milwaukee and Sarah Mauel of UW-Green Bay have become the season’s first cross country runners-of-the-week in the Horizon League. Reilly, a senior, won the Midwest Collegiate Open last weekend in Kenosha. Mauel, a freshman, took third at Kenosha.

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The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers took Game-One of the Midwest League Championship Series, 3-to-2 in 10 innings at home last night over Fort Wayne. Rafael Neda scored the walk-off run on a wild pitch from Luis De La Cruz, who had loaded the bases. Neda was the Brewers’ 10th-round draft pick in 2010. He had two hits last night, including an RBI-double. And he raised his batting average in the playoffs to .333 in six games. Brent Suter got the win, giving up three hits in three innings of relief. Game-Two of the best-of-five series is set for 12:05 this afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium near Appleton. The rest of the series will be played in Fort Wayne, starting on Saturday. Occasional showers are in the forecast for Appleton this afternoon.

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Former Beloit College receiver Derek Carrier remains in the NFL, after signing with the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad. Oakland signed Carrier in the spring as an undrafted free agent, but they let him go after the Raiders’ training camp. Carrier graduated from Beloit last spring as the school’s all-time leading receiver with 189 career catches, 3,111 receiving yards, and 29 touchdowns.

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The PGA Playoffs are taking their customary week off, before going into their fourth-and-final event next week. Steve Stricker of Madison is among the Top-30 who advanced to the Fed-Ex Cup finale, the Tour Championship near Atlanta. Meanwhile, the senior PGA Champions Tour is in Hawaii this weekend for the Pacific Links Championship. Rhinelander native Dan Forsman is part of the field for the 54-hole tournament, which begins tomorrow at the Kapolei Golf Course in Kapolei. Forsman is 26th in the season point standings for Champions Tour’s Charles Schwab Cup.

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