With less than five minutes left in Friday’s match against Michigan, Northwestern set its sights on overtime, looking to steal a road win or at least secure a tie.
The Wildcats (7-6-1, 0-5-1 Big Ten) had already battled back from a 2-1 deficit, with freshman midfielder Alex Covington netting the equalizer in the 75th minute, her first goal at NU.
But with only 3:41 left, Michigan junior midfielder Judy Coffman took a pass from sophomore forward Melissa Dobbyn, dribbled and fired for her third goal of the year, sealing the 3-2 win for the Wolverines (6-5-2, 2-3-0).
What happened two days later seemed like a recurring nightmare.
Five minutes after sophomore forward Kelsey Hans drew the Cats even with Michigan State (8-3-3, 4-1-0) in the 76th minute, Spartans senior forward Emma Harris notched her second goal of the game and handed NU a 2-1 loss.
It was the sixth one-goal loss of the season and the third-straight game in which the opponent’s game-winner has come with less than 15 minutes remaining.
“It’s been happening so much that the team’s getting a mentality that they’re expecting it’s going to happen,” senior forward Tabitha Lowey said.
“I think we’re all pretty frustrated right now,” junior defender Katie Wright said. “We know we’re really close and we should be winning these games.”
Another winless Big Ten weekend kept the Cats with only one point in conference play.
“We’re just giving up too many goals,” coach Jenny Haigh said. “We’re certainly being productive enough on the front end of the field. We’re just giving up too many goals.”
NU played without senior midfielder Julie Lipinski for the second-straight weekend after she injured her ankle.
Lipinski is the second starting midfielder the Cats have been forced to replace. They lost junior captain Shannon Schneeman for the year to a torn ACL at the end of spring practice.
Haigh said the team was noticeably lacking what Lipinski brings to the field.
“Julie always defends really well,” she said. “She’s also one of the fittest players. She’s really fresh all the time, it seems like.
“We missed her a lot.”
Lowey said she thinks the Cats’ bad string of results is somewhat due to a lack of communication on the field.
While she described herself as a “follow by action” leader in the past, Lowey said she plans to change her leadership style.
“It’s probably time for me to step up and say something,” she said, “Tell someone when they’re doing something great or doing something wrong.”
After sprinting out to their best start in seven years, the Cats have gone winless in six Big Ten contests. NU sits alone in last place in the conference after Wisconsin’s win over Michigan on Sunday.
With only four conference games left, the Cats also sit in danger of missing the Big Ten tournament, in which only eight teams gain entry.
“We just have to come out and know that we have to play all out every single game,” Wright said, “Because one loss and our season could be over really soon.”
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
