By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
Just one game away from the College Cup, Northwestern’s season came to an end Saturday night in Santa Barbara.
After taking a 2-1 lead at halftime, the Wildcats fell to UC Santa Barbara 3-2 in thequarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. It was just the second postseason appearance in program history for NU and the Wildcats first apperance in the quarterfinals.
“In time, we’re all going to put this in perspective for what we’ve accomplished as a program, and individually for the seniors as well,” NU coach Tim Lenahan said.
The Gauchos (16-7) got out to an early lead when junior Tyler Rosenlund scored on a cross from Bryan Byrne in the ninth minute, putting UC Santa Barbara up 1-0.
The Cats (14- 8) evenend the score just four minutes later, when redshirt freshman Carl Pett and senior Brad North had Gauchos keeper Kyle Reynish in a two-on-one. When Reynish came out to defend Pett, the Northbrook, Ill. native crossed the ball to North who put it in for the open-net goal.
NU added another goal late in the first period. After senior Daniel Chille was tripped up about 10 yards outside the UC Santa Barbara box, fellow senior Gerardo Alvarez flew the free kick over the Gaunchos wall and into the upper left corner of the net for a 2-1 Cats lead in the 38th minute.
It was Alvarez’s fourth goal of the NCAA tournament, after having scored none in the regular season, and his 80th career point, tying him for the all-time highest career scorer in NU history.
“We scored eight goals in our tournament run, and six of them were Brad and Gerardo,” Lenahan said.
“Senior leadership – you always talk about it come tournament time, and these guys played their best in the last four games.”
As the second half began, UC Santa Barbara came out on an offensive charge. Just over two minutes in, Rosenlund one-timed a cross from Jon Curry past NU keeper Justin Pines for his second goal of the game.
The Gaunchos continued to pressure the Cats defense as the half progressed, and in the 63rd minute they would tally the game-winner. Firing from the far left corner of the NU box, Rosenlund hit the top-right corner of the net to beat Pines for the hat trick and a 3-2 UC Santa Barbara lead.
Lenahan said the Gaunchos fast-paced, high-powered offense wore down the Cats midfielders and forced NU to play counter-attack soccer for much of the contest. And though they remained in the game until time expired, the Cats were unable to score a third goal and extend their season.
“We still created chances,” Lenahan said, “but we weren’t able to capitalize.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
