The Northwestern field hockey team played suffocating defense and scored six goals this weekend in Bloomington, Ind.
Sounds like somebody’s got the recipe for a win.
Actually, make that two wins — one over Indiana and one over California.
NU (7-7, 1-4 Big Ten) held on Friday against the Hoosiers (7-6, 0-4) to pull out a 3-2 victory and tally their first Big Ten win of the season.
“It feels awesome,” senior Suzi Sutton said. “For things to finally come together and click like they did, it’s just great.”
The Wildcats couldn’t have been more dominating in the first 50 minutes of the game, which saw NU jump out to a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Holly Palin got things rolling with an unassisted goal at 10:55 to give the Cats a 1-0 advantage.
Junior Candice Cooper, NU’s leading scorer, stretched the lead to 2-0 when she converted on a penalty corner. NU took that comfortable lead into halftime, but didn’t let up a bit coming out in the second half.
Just under 10 minutes into the second frame, freshman Meghan Sieberg tacked on what proved to be the game-winning goal.
“Not only did we win this weekend, but we did it by accomplishing our goals of scoring early and multiple times,” Cooper said.
But Indiana woke up to make things interesting in the second half, scoring two goals before the NU defense finally buckled down to close the victory out.
“It was kind of disappointing to let them back in the game and make it interesting,” Sutton said. “But getting the win is all that matters.”
NU was back the next day — without an opportunity for rest — to play even better against California (7-3). The Golden Bears were ranked No. 18 coming into the game, but got steamrolled by the Cats, 3-0.
NU had to fight through some intense, indoor conditions that had the fans right up against the sidelines, as loud as Sinbad’s parachute pants..
“It was definitely a pretty crazy environment to play in,” Palin said. “It’s really fun when the fans get into it like that though.”
Senior Katie Walshauser started the assault at 10:17 when she took a deflected NU shot and made sure it went into the back of the net by ripping the ball past California goalkeeper Kelly Knapp.
Less than eight minutes later, Cooper scored the first of her two goals in the game off a penalty stroke. Cooper then scored her third goal of the weekend to give the Cats a cushy 3-0 lead, and the defense took care of the rest.
Freshman goalkeeper Sherri-Anne Nyberg stopped all five shots California sent her way to ensure the second shutout of her young career.
“It was a huge, uplifting moment after winning those two games,” Sutton said. “It’s good to stop talking about doing things and come out and put the numbers up.”
The pair of wins gets NU back to .500 on the year with an overall record of 7-7.
The Cats are done with the road trips until the Big Ten tournament, which starts Nov. 2 in University Park, Pa.
NU will close out the regular season with a three-game homestand, which includes contests against Iowa on Oct. 26, Saint Louis on Oct. 31 and Syracuse on Nov. 2.
