By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
In a season in which the second half had been Northwestern’s best friend, the Wildcats were betrayed by the final 45 for the second-straight Big Ten game.
Wisconsin scored two second-half goals to defeat NU 2-0 on Sunday at Madison, Wis.
The Cats came out strong to start the game, putting pressure on the Badgers’ defense for the first 20-25 minutes of play. But NU could not take advantage, managing zero shots on net in the first half.
“We have to score a goal then,” NU coach Tim Lenahan said. “We were playing well, and they were a little bit unorganized, and we kind of let them off the hook a little bit.”
Reid Johnson put a William Bagayoko pass in the 54th minute past NU keeper Will Briley to give Wisconsin the 1-0 advantage. Bagayoko took a cross from the right side and floated it over the reach of Briley for the goal.
The Cats followed the Wisconsin goal with a push of their own, including a breakaway just minutes later, but was again unable to find the back of the net.
The game’s second and final goal also would belong to the Badgers. Breaking away from the NU assault, Victor Diaz found Pablo Delgado on the left side of the box in the 72nd minute and fired it past Briley for a 2-0 Wisconsin lead.
“Even though it was a counter attack, we should have put more pressure on the ball,” Lenahan said. “We allowed them to come at us with numbers, (and) 2-0 (is) a really hard deficit to come back from particularly on the road.”
Shortly after the second goal, NU reverted to its goalkeeping strategy of subbing in the strong-legged Justin Pines for an offensive push, but it was to no avail. Sophomore Carl Pett and junior Matt Witt put up good shots in the final five minutes of play, but Wisconsin keeper Jake Settle and company kept the ball out of the net and sealed the victory for the Badgers.
“We weren’t outplayed,” Lenahan said, “but they were a bit tougher, stronger, tackled more.”
While the Cats took only one less shot than Wisconsin, only two were on goal.
NU’s offense was slowed by the absence of two key seniors – midfielders Daniel Chille and Will Nicholas. Chille hurt his hamstring near the end of NU’s 2-0 win over Loyola and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Nicholas, whose career has been staggered by two previous leg injuries, will have his third knee surgery this Tuesday that is likely to finish his collegiate playing career.
Injuries haunted NU last year, which saw four Cats (including both Chille and Nicholas) go down at the beginning of the season. But Lenahan doesn’t think NU will be held back by the losses.
“This is a totally different team than last year,” Lenahan said. “We have a little more depth this year, we have a little bit more resolve. I think we’ll be OK. I think we’re in good shape as far as the season’s concerned.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].