Sunday looked promising for the Northwestern women’s soccer team.
The day began with a ceremony honoring the team’s three seniors, including a two-time All-Big Ten selection and a midfielder second on the Wildcats’ all-time assists list.
Attendance topped out at 450, the largest crowd for women’s soccer at the Thomas Sports Complex this year.
And, most importantly, NU was poised to face a nationally ranked squad that was coming off a tough Big Ten loss.
NU (6-6-1, 2-4-1 Big Ten) opened the game strong, aggressively maintaining possession of the ball and stopping anything that No. 11 Ohio State (8-2-3, 2-2-3) threw its way.
“We came out and played hard pressure,” said senior midfielder Aileen Guiney. “We’re the type of team that had to be able to rely on our work rate, and we came out today ready to work and ready to play hard.”
The Cats continued to control the pace of the game throughout the first half. After slowly breaking down the Buckeyes’ defense, Guiney bent a corner kick into the opposing goal at 33:56 for NU’s first and only score of the day.
Both the Cats and the Buckeyes started the second half in excellent fashion, each threatening the opposing defenses. But the backfields stood strong.
Just as the crowd was beginning to smell an upset, a quick break enabled Ohio State’s Heather Miller to slip past the NU defenders and produce a goal with 16:25 remaining in regulation.
Both teams were unable to further capitalize on offensive opportunities, and after two 10-minute overtimes the match ended in a 1-1 tie.
“Now we know how good we are,” said Guiney. “That team is ranked 11th in the country, and we played with them for 110 minutes.”
Coach Jenny Haigh was less excited.
“With a tie, I think I’m walking away from the field feeling a little unresolved, and I think our team is too,” said Haigh. “It definitely was a game that we put ourselves in the position to win, and it’s disappointing that we didn’t.”
After a 4-2 loss on Friday to No. 14 Penn State (12-2-2, 6-1), the Cats certainly appeared reenergized in a draw with the Buckeyes.
“Ohio State’s a very productive team,” said Haigh. “We matched up well with them on set pieces, which was one of our goals today. At the end of the game we created some chances, but we also did a really good job of containing their attack.”
NU players said they were prepared to square off with one of the toughest teams in the nation.
“I noticed our intensity level was the highest it’s ever been,” said freshman defender Tori Bohannon. “We were just getting stuck in covering each other’s backs, and we really were determined not to give up anything. I think we just really wanted to win.”
