With seven wins in its first eight games, Northwestern sat just outside of the national rankings Sept. 20.
The Wildcats seemed sure to record a 10-win season. After last year’s 10-8-2 mark, it would have been the first time the team had recorded at least 10 wins in consecutive seasons in seven years.
Their performance in the early season left the Cats confident of success in the Big Ten. They looked to clinch a spot in the conference tournament for two years in a row for the first time since their last consecutive 10-win seasons.
A bid in the NCAA tournament didn’t even seem that unlikely.
“It’s a whole different story this year,” senior Tabitha Lowey said at the time. “We’ve faced a lot of difficult challenges and still been able to overcome them.”
But a conference season can do funny things to a team.
By the time the final horn rang in the Cats’ 1-0 loss to eventual Big Ten champion Wisconsin on Oct. 28, NU’s hopes for a 10-win season and a bid in the conference and national tournament lay in ruins.
“We know we could have made a lot more from this season,” midfielder Jenny Dunn said.
NU (9-9-1, 2-7-1 Big Ten) had an acute case of schizophrenia between the first and second half of the season.
In the first 10 games, the Cats outscored opponents 22-12. In the last nine, opponents netted 13 to the Cats’ 8.
After posting a 1-6-0 mark on the road last year, the Cats opened with a 2-0-0 record in the first half of this season. They finished 2-3-1.
NU maintained its attacking intensity during its 2-7-0 stretch to end the season, even firing 1.2 more shots per game than during its 7-2-1 start. They just weren’t going in.
This lack of goals meant that one defensive mistake could doom the Cats to another loss. And for a team that suffered all nine defeats by one goal, this was often the case.
The Cats were shut out three times in the last nine games, including back-to-back losses to Loyola, which had never beaten them before, and Wisconsin to end the season.
“It’s just soccer,” midfielder Jeanette Lorme said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen for you.”
Besides a scoring drought, the team began to suffer from its injuries during the losing string.
With the loss of captain and midfielder Shannon Schneeman in the last week of spring practice, the midfield proved a troublesome area for the Cats.
While Dunn, Lorme and sophomore Kelly Sitkowski provided stability at three of the midfield spots, starting all but two of the team’s games, the fourth spot was a problem.
Senior Julie Lipinski started the first ten games, but injured her right ankle in practice the day before the match against No. 1 Penn State and missed four games. She felt the effects for the rest of the season and played greatly reduced minutes.
“She’s one of the fittest players,” coach Jenny Haigh said. “She’s really fresh all the time, it seems. She comes to play all the time. We missed her a lot.”
Haigh tried various schemes to replace Lipinski, the most successful being starting freshman Krystal Patterson at forward and moving Lowey back to the midfield. But none of her replacements could match Lipinski’s defense at the position.
One positive effect from the Cats’ injury problems was the increased playing time it provided for the team’s freshmen. In the absence of Schneeman, Dunn and Lorme solidified themselves as threats in the midfield. Patterson and Alex Covington also stepped up when Lipinski went down.
Dunn said the young team can use this year’s lessons to help them in the future.
“We’re going to get better and we’re never going to let this happen again,” she said.
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
