For the first time in nearly four years, the Northwestern soccer team won a conference game.

Now Tim Lenahan can relax a little.

“What we really don’t have to worry about it is The Daily Northwestern asking me after every game when we’re going to win a (Big Ten) game,” the third-year coach said.

In the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Wildcats beat Michigan 2-1, ending a 20-game conference losing streak that dates back to the 1999 season. Although the Cats were eliminated in the semifinals by a tough Penn State squad, the victory over the No. 23 Wolverines made the entire season a success. The win also helped NU (7-7-6, 1-5-2 Big Ten) avoid its 15th straight losing season.

“If there wasn’t respect for our program then, there certainly is now,” Lenahan said.

While the Cats picked up just one Big Ten victory, they showed their competitive fire in the nonconference slate. Early in the season, the Cats beat Duke, a perennial NCAA Tournament team, earning Lenahan congratulatory phone calls from coaches throughout the country.

NU couldn’t have succeeded without freshman Gerardo Alvarez, who led the team with eight goals and seven assists. The Aurora, Ill., product was named the Big Ten’s Co-Freshman of the Year, marking the first time an NU player has won that award since conference play began in 1991.

The Cats also received strong play from senior midfielder Jeremy Cook, who was consistently called up one to mark the opponents’ best player. Along with Alvarez, Cook was named to the Big Ten’s All-Tournament team.

Cook, a four-year player, got the first conference win of his career against Michigan. All season, Cook said NU would break through.

“My prediction we were going to get a Big Ten win almost came back to bite me,” he said.

Cook is the only starter graduating from this year’s squad, so the remaining Cats are looking to claw their way to the top of the Big Ten in 2004.

“I can’t make any predictions but I guarantee we’ll be a threat,” freshman Brad North said. “Now I think teams will start fearing us a little more than they did in the past.”

NU has improved drastically since its 0-17-1 campaign in 2000, just as Lenahan predicted when he arrived in Evanston three years ago.

“I chose (NU) because I thought the program had a bright future,” North said. “Tim came up to me and said ‘we will be good.’ And I believed him. And I still believe him.”