Two Harvard goals in the last 10 minutes of the game Friday and a hat trick by Michigan’s Jessica Blake Saturday led to a winless weekend for Northwestern in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“We need to learn from the weekend,” NU coach Kelly McCollum said. “We need to get back to concentrating on the simple things that made us successful.”
The Wildcats (6-6, 0-2 Big Ten) struggled from the beginning in a 4-1 loss to No. 8 Michigan on Saturday.
The Wolverines (9-3, 2-0) scored three goals in the first half, outshooting the Cats 10-1.
“We had a very strong first seven minutes, but after Michigan scored our team deflated, which is very uncharacteristic of this team,” McCollum said.
NU junior Kelly Augustine relieved sophomore Sherri-Anne Nyberg in goal with 10 minutes left in the first half and allowed one goal in 45 minutes.
The second half began much the same as the first, with Blake, the third leading scorer in the nation, completing a hat trick in the 50th minute.
That was the end of Michigan’s scoring, as they were shut out the last 30 minutes.
“We had to make adjustments in our game to counter Michigan’s offense,” McCollum said. “Kelly Augustine played very well in her first minutes of the season. It’s hard to battle when you are down.”
Cats senior Candice Cooper scored the lone goal for the Cats on an assist from sophomore Wenny Ng early in the second half.
The goal marked Cooper’s 73rd point of her career, tying her for 14th on NU’s all-time scoring list.
She has 29 points this season and is on pace to score more points this season than in her first three season combined.
“The team is more about creating an offense attack than in the past,” McCollum said. “Our team effort is allowing Candice to get the ball in a scoring position.
“She is a competitor and really wants to win. She wants to score for her team.”
NU lost 2-1 to No. 17 Harvard (6-3) on Friday and went through the first half in a defensive deadlock, with neither team scoring and only six shots combined.
Cooper scored an unassisted goal in the 10th minute of the second half, putting NU ahead 1-0.
The score stayed in NU’s favor until Harvard scored off a corner, tying the score with nine and a half minutes remaining.
With just under four minutes left, the Crimson scored off a rebound and secured a 2-1 win.
“Harvard capitalized on our mistakes, we let down our guard,” McCollum said. “We learned the hard way, you have to play all 70 minutes.”
Although Nyberg did not need to make a single save in the first half, she made six in the second and gave up two goals.
NU was outshot 15-9 in the game and only forced four saves by the Harvard goalie.
The Cats have begun the Big Ten season 0-2 for the fourth time in four years. The last three seasons they finished sixth out of seven in the Big Ten, going 1-5.
“Our team is still on track,” McCollum said. “We have had a tough stretch lately, but I still believe we can be a successful team.”
Reach Abraham Rakov at [email protected].
Friday
NU 1
HARV 2
Saturday
NU 1
MICH 4
