The Northwestern women’s soccer team (7-10-1, 3-6-1 Big Ten) finished its season this weekend with two well-played games and emerged with strong evidence of a consistent theme.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the theme was not a good one.
NU began its weekend in Milwaukee against Marquette (11-7-1), a team with which the Cats played competitively for more than 90 minutes.
From the beginning of the first half, it was clear that NU was the dominant team on the field.
“We could have easily been up 2-0 15 minutes into the game,” NU coach Jenny Haigh said.
After outshooting Marquette 10-3 in the first half, NU played well on both sides of the field. But the Cats couldn’t catch a break.
“We fought hard,” freshman Shannon Schneeman said. “We just didn’t finish on some of our opportunities.”
Both NU and Marquette were still without a goal at the end of regulation, and the game headed to a sudden-death overtime period.
In the ninth minute of overtime play, Marquette’s Lauren Weber scored off a pass from Heather Goranson, helping the Eagles to escape with a 1-0 win.
“It was a fun game to be a part of,” Haigh said. “But the longer we didn’t finish, they hung in there.”
Already without the possibility of finishing the season at or above .500, the Cats geared up for their final game of the season, against Horizon League Champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee (9-8-1).
NU began the game by outshooting the Panthers 10-0 and striking in the 11th minute of play with a goal by senior Aileen Guiney.
But Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Elizabeth Chudy came through with two goals, one with two minutes remaining in the first half and the other in the 64th minute of the game.
Although the Panthers got off a total of just three shots, two of which were shots on goal, they came away with the win, handing NU its third 2-1 loss of the season.
“It was rainy and slick out there, which made the game a little bit sloppy at times,” Haigh said.
“I didn’t feel we were very composed with the attack,” Guiney said. “We didn’t possess the ball well in the last third of the game.”
The games in Milwaukee resembled multiple contests this season in which the Cats outplayed their opponents, but were unable to capitalize on scoring situations.
“We looked like a great soccer team,” Haigh said. “The game against Marquette was more sophisticated, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee was feisty.”
The losses left NU with a 4-4 record in non-conference play and with a three-win improvement over last year’s 4-9-5 overall record.
