Why sulk about it? The season was over anyway.
Sure, the Northwestern field hockey team had just been thrashed, 6-1, by No. 5 Michigan in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. But it was over and there was little they could do about it. So they huddled near the south goal, and they talked.
“It was really emotional,” freshman Candice Cooper said. “Coach (Marisa Didio) was talking about the seniors (Kathryn Breed and Nicole Smith), what they did and how they’ll be missed.”
After the coaching staff left, NU’s players came together to savor their last few minutes.
“We talked about how it is harder to be a losing team than it is a winning team,” said Breed, “and that we were just happy that we could do whatever we did together.”
That was a significant contrast to their play on the field because, especially in the first half, not much about NU’s performance was real positive.
It only took five minutes for the Wolverines (14-5, 4-2 Big Ten) to get on the board. Michigan’s April Fonzoni made a steal in the NU defensive backfield and headed toward the net. Sensing a breakaway, NU goaltender Katie Hall sprinted off her line but bit on a Fonzoni fake, leaving her an easy dump-in for a 1-0 Wolverines lead.
Things got worse for NU (2-13, 1-5) two minutes later, when Michigan capitalized on a penalty corner.
“When goals go in back-to-back it really changes the match,” Didio said. “For us, that’s been occurring all year. I give the players credit just for the fight and focus that they maintained.”
The Cats drew their first penalty corner of the match six minutes after Kristi Gannon’s goal, but Michigan goalie Maureen Tasch turned away a blast by NU’s Diane Provencher. Gannon executed on a similar play for Michigan with 15 minutes left in the half, sending a blast to Hall’s right to make the score 3-0. The Cats successfully stifled three more first-half penalty corners, but were unable to score before the half ended. It was a far cry from the scoreless deadlock after the break when Michigan defeated NU 2-0 on Oct. 27.
“I definitely think they were a different team from what we played last Saturday, ” Cooper said. “Their speed of play was a lot quicker.”
Didio said that Fonzoni, who did not play the first time the teams played, was the difference.
“They came with a different lineup, and I don’t think we expected that kind of speed,” she said.
The Cats adjusted and came out strong to start the second half, but they were unable to convert. Less than a minute into the second stanza, NU’s Smith made a steal at midfield and dished it to Cooper along the sideline. Smith immediately cut toward the circle, took a return feed from Cooper and sent a shot on net, which was turned away by Tasch.
“Our offense started to make things happen,” Cooper said. “We were making plays, making passes, giving ourselves scoring opportunities.”
But it was the Wolverines who converted. Fonzoni scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the second half to make the score 5-0.
The Cats prevented the shutout when Cooper put in a rebound off of a Smith shot with 20 minutes left, but Michigan responded 20 seconds later to answer with a goal from Katy Moyneur.
Didio remains disappointed in NU’s goalkeeping position, which she referred as the “missing piece.” Hall and Kendra Mesa combined to allow six goals and make eight saves on Friday.
But she’s proud of her squad’s constant effort.
“There hasn’t been a time when the team hasn’t shown up to work hard,” Didio said. “What else can a coach ask for, especially when they’re not seeing results?”
