The Northwestern women’s soccer team will take on its fifth top-25 opponent in just 10 matches this season today at Purdue.
The No. 22 Boilermakers (6-2-1, 2-1-1 Big Ten) will greet the Wildcats in West Lafeyette, Ind., to begin NU’s fourth road trip in the last five weekends. The Cats will finish their Hoosier-state tour with a Sunday matchup at Indiana (5-3-1, 2-1-1).
NU (3-5-1, 1-3) met three of its ranked foes before entering the Big Ten season. Head coach Jenny Haigh said her team’s schedule — laden with top-25 teams — was designed to ready the Cats for conference play.
“The Big Ten is a crazy, crazy conference,” Haigh said. “There’s not a soft game out there. … Our tough schedule hopefully prepared us to be comfortable out there and made us able to compete at our edge.”
For example: Last weekend No. 13 Michigan lost 4-0 to Minnesota, the ninth-placed team in the Big Ten.
Haigh’s strategy to combat the topsy-turvy Big Ten world has been to go with youth.
With the appointment of sophomore Anne Helm as the starting goalkeeper, Haigh includes seven underclassmen in the starting 11.
“With the freshmen, it’s just a matter of getting them minutes,” Haigh said. “Once they hit the end of their (preparation) time, they get a lot more comfortable and are able to play their best soccer. With the sophomores, although it can be tough, we already expect them to be seasoned veterans.”
With the Cats at the season’s midway point, it seems the freshmen’s adjustment period is quickly waning, and the sophomores are meeting Haigh’s high expectations. All but one of NU’s 11 goals this season have come from underclassmen, with four coming from freshmen.
“We (the underclassmen) compliment all the upperclassmen very well,” sophomore Carolyn Hack said. “Especially our freshmen, they’ve really stepped in on our attack.”
While the younger members of the team have proven to be a great benefit to NU’s offense, the Cats’ defense still has some fine-tuning to do. With nine games left, NU has allowed 15 goals, after yielding just 17 during all of regular-season play last year.
So far the Cats have had to do most of their growing up on the road, living out of suitcases for seven of their nine games. But the early road-heavy schedule means NU will be playing at home for any must-win situation that might arise at the end of Big Ten play — NU finishes its conference schedule with five straight games at Lakeside Field.
The Boilermakers and Hoosiers made back-to-back visits to Evanston in 2001, when the Cats earned four points in the conference standings.
The two teams go into this weekend tied for fourth in the conference. NU will start with the bigger challenge in Purdue, but Haigh was quick to sing the praises of the Hoosiers, who, after finishing ninth in 2001, have a new coach.
“Indiana was a talented team last year and, for whatever reason, had some bad results,” Haigh said. “They’re loaded with talent, and with their new coach, they probably have a lot of new momentum in that program.”
With just six Big Ten games left, the Cats will need to pick up their play quickly and shake off Sunday’s disappointing loss to in-state rival Illinois if they are to win this weekend.
“I have a lot of confidence we’ll be a tough team to beat this weekend,” Haigh said. “We squared away our readiness issues in practice this week, and we should now be ready to compete at our edge every time we step on the field.”
NU (3-5-1,1-3 Big Ten) at No. 22 Purdue
(6-2-1,
2-1-1)
4 p.m., Friday
Varsity Soccer Complex
W. Lafeyette, Ind.
What: The 75th nnual
Waa-Mu show
Tickets: $5, available at Norris Center Box Office
