After a tough 1-0 loss to Michigan on Sunday, Northwestern could not afford a hangover in Wednesday’s match against Illinois-Chicago.
The Wildcats took control of the game early, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes.
The offensive explosion slowed down later, but the defense held on for the shutout in a 2-0 win against the Flames (3-3-1).
“We came with a ton of emotion,” senior Brad Napper said. “We were ready to go and really took it to them from the start.”
Junior John Carlstedt put the Cats (5-3-0) on the board in the 12th minute.
Senior Alexander Renzi played the ball to freshman Tyler Voigt. Voigt drove toward the goal and found Carlstedt in front of the net. Carlstedt buried it to give NU a 1-0 advantage.
Carlstedt got involved in the second goal as well.
About three minutes after the first score, Carlstedt sent the ball to sophomore David Roth down the left side. Roth fed junior Brad North in the middle, and North blasted it in for his fifth goal of the year. The assist was Roth’s fifth this season.
Coach Tim Lenahan said Carlstedt got the start in place of junior Gerardo Alvarez, who is still suffering from knee pain.
“(Carlstedt) has good energy,” Lenahan said. “With Gerardo aching, we made the change. It was not necessarily because of John’s technical ability, but we like his energy source. And the team fed off of it, and John got a goal and an assist out of it.”
The Wildcats averaged 1.14 goals per game coming into Wednesday’s match. But the Cats’ offense was efficient with 10 shots, including seven on goal.
The NU defense held the Flames to one shot in the first half but mistakes in the second half put pressure on the Cats’ back half.
In the final 45 minutes, the Flames took nine shots. Illinois-Chicago nearly broke through late in the second half off of an NU turnover but sophomore goalkeeper Will Briley made a diving stop to keep the Flames off the scoreboard.
The shutout was the first in Briley’s NU career, and the Cats’ third of the season.
“We backed off a little bit, and (Illinois-Chicago) got into a rhythm,” Lenahan said. “In the second half we mostly defended. But we defended well. I thought we gave the ball away too much. And it played into their hands a little bit.”
In the second half, NU had chances to add to the two goal lead and put the game out of reach.
But Lenahan said NU failed to capitalize on its opportunities.
Lenahan said the 2-0 lead was a little troubling especially with the rainy conditions.
“I was a little worried that we didn’t get the third goal and put the game away,” Lenahan said. “Because if they get that first goal in there, you never know what crazy things can happen.”
After a loss in the Michigan game and the second conference match this weekend against Michigan State, Napper said the win was very important at this point in the season.
“The concern you have is that you over look the mid-week game with Michigan State coming in,” Napper said. “But you don’t want to drop a game like this that we should win. We showed we didn’t overlook our opponent and can bounce back after a loss.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
