A draw against the No. 8 team in the nation may look impressive on paper.
But after coming away with a tie after 110 minutes of soccer, the Wildcats weren’t satisfied with the result against the defending national champions.
Northwestern tied No. 8 Indiana 1-1 on Sunday, but after beating the Hoosiers on the road last year, the Cats expected to win.
“We know the vulnerability is there,” senior midfielder Kevin Earnest said. “We know they’re not invincible. I think we took that swagger out of their step with the win last year. Once that settled in (Sunday), I think we were able to play with them again and probably outplay them.
“It would have been nice to knock one in and get out of here with a 2-1 win. I thought we deserved it.”
NU (7-4-1, 1-2-1 Big Ten) had chances to score in the overtime periods, but Indiana (8-1-4, 2-1-2) held on.
In the 94th minute, junior midfielder John Carlstedt set up senior defender Adam Sirois on a corner kick. Indiana goalkeeper Chris Munroe stopped the header from Sirois at the near post.
In the second overtime, Earnest was able to get behind the defense and make a few runs down the right side, but the Cats couldn’t capitalize.
NU coach Tim Lenahan said he was impressed with the play on the outside, especially from Earnest.
“In case anyone didn’t notice, Kevin Earnest is really, really fast,” Lenahan said. “And you can’t defend speed sometimes. They had a match up where they moved one of the central players to the left, and Kevin came in and did a great job for us. I thought our flank play was pretty effective today.”
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Indiana’s offense controlled the pace, keeping NU from getting any opportunities.
The Hoosiers possessed the ball in NU’s half of the field for much of the opening minutes, which Lenahan said made him a little bit nervous.
But as the NU coach said, the Cats were able to “weather the storm.” They struck back with a goal on a set piece in the 12th minute.
Junior midfielder Gerardo Alvarez delivered a free kick into the box from near the midfield stripe. Junior forward Brad North headed the ball towards the net, but Munroe blocked the ball in front of the net. Junior midfielder Daniel Chille was there for the rebound and knocked the ball past Munroe to give NU a 1-0 lead.
NU’s lead was short-lived as Indiana had an answer 17 minutes later.
Freshman midfielder Lee Nguyen fed senior Brian Plotkin, who sent the ball under the legs of NU goalkeeper Misha Rosenthal to tie the game.
Besides Indiana’s one goal, NU’s defense, led by senior defender Sammy Semwangu, matched the potent Indiana offense, which was ranked ninth in the country with 2.59 goals per game.
“Sammy’s one of the best one-on-one defenders in the league,” Lenahan said. “He was rock solid for us.”
After losing 20 straight games to Indiana, the Cats haven’t succumbed to the Hoosiers in their last two meetings, with a 1-0 win last year and the tie Sunday.
With the draw, the Cats gained sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten, while the Hoosiers sit in second place.
“Honestly, tying one of the best teams in the country should be a great feeling, but it really wasn’t,” Chille said. “In the last half and overtimes, we really gave it our all, so it’s upsetting that we couldn’t put another (goal) in.
“It’s just frustrating. We got a tie, when I thought we really could have gotten a win.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
