By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
For the first time in program history, Northwestern has advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Thanks to a first half goal from St. Louis-native David Roth, the Wildcats defeated No. 11 Saint Louis 1-0 Thursday in St. Louis.
“It was pretty much the coolest thing that’s happened to me in my life thus far,” Roth said.
In front of friends and family, Roth was able to play hero for NU (13-7). Playing in his hometown for the first time since 2004, the junior scored the game’s only goal on one of just four shots for the Cats. The all-Big Ten forward said he knew nearly all of the Billikens’ players, old friends from his high school and club soccer days.
Amid plenty of good-natured trash talking, Roth scored in the 20th minutes from 35 yards out on a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar and past St. Louis keeper Ross Kaufman.
“It’s bittersweet to beat them, I guess – but not really,” Roth said. “It’s pretty awesome.”
For much of the game and especially after the early goal, St. Louis (13-5-2) pressed offensively. But NU keeper Justin Pines kept the Billikens off the scoreboard with seven saves, the last of which came on a diving stop with just two minutes remaining. Pines, who didn’t start a game for the Cats until the regular season finale, made his fourth-straight start in net, posting his second-straight shutout. The oft-injured senior has held NU opponents scoreless in three of the last four games.
“Pines was absolutely awesome,” Roth said. “When you come in with a confident goalie, it puts confidence in the rest of the team.”
In addition to NU’s triumph over Saint Louis, each of the region’s other three seeded teams fell in second round play. As a result, the Cats are now the region’s top-ranked team. And because UNC Greensboro upset No. 6 West Virginia 2-1 in double overtime, the Cats will now host their third round matchup with the Spartans (16-8-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Lakeside Field.
Should NU beat UNC Greensboro and the winner of the UC Santa Barbara-Old Dominion match, it would return to Robert R. Hermann in St. Louis, the host of this year’s College Cup.
After having never qualified for NCAAs prior to 2004, the Cats have now made the tournament in two of the past three seasons. Until this year, they had never made it past the second round. NU coach Tim Lenahan said the program’s prior track record makes Thursday’s victory that much bigger.
“I have to put everything in perspective,” Lenahan said. “I mean, it’s a little overwhelming. We lost 35 games in-a-row five years ago, and this validates the decisions of all the guys that chose to come here. For me, that’s kind of more exciting than anything else.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
