No. 9 Northwestern and Michigan came into Saturday’s game as the two top-scoring teams in the Big Ten.
It would take one goal to separate these two teams. But neither team could get that lone score as the Wildcats and Wolverines tied 0-0 after two overtime periods.
NU dominated possession and had more chances to score throughout regulation and the two overtime periods, but could not find the back of the net.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said sophomore midfielder Carl Pett, who played his first game in three weeks after suffering a torn meniscus. “It’s hard to say it felt like a loss, but we were definitely not happy with the result. We played really well. It was just a little bit off. We have had a lot of games where everything goes right and we put up a couple goals. Tonight just wasn’t our night.”
The Cats (9-2-1, 2-2-1 Big Ten) outshot the Wolverines 19-5 and had a 6-1 advantage in shots on goal. Michigan (9-4-2, 0-2-2) did not register its first shot until the 68th minute.
The defense did its job against one of the best offenses in the Big Ten. Michigan averaged 2.29 goals per game and led the conference in shots coming in to Saturday’s match. But the Cats’ defense stifled the Wolverines attack throughout the contest.
“This defense that we have here, I credit as being the hardest working defense in the Big Ten,” said junior goalkeeper Will Briley, who started his first game in place of sophomore Misha Rosenthal. “They gave it everything that they had (Saturday) and they do it consistently every time that they come out. They’ll do whatever it takes to not get a goal scored on us.”
Both teams had an opportunity to avoid overtime with a couple of chances in the final five minutes of regulation. NU blocked a shot from forward Mauro Fuzzetti with just more than three minutes to play.
The Cats then took the ball for the remainder of regulation, but senior defender Clark Kiesling’s shot in the final moments of regulation was deflected by Michigan’s Patrick Sperry.
Kiesling had a shot blocked and shot the ball wide of the net in the second overtime period as the teams remained deadlocked to the final whistle.
“It’s not frustrating to me because I’m very happy with how my team is playing,” Lenahan said. “What is frustrating to me sometimes is when you play like garbage, and you sneak a goal in and you get out of there. Then you’ve got things to work on. If you play like (this) every game, you are going to win every game. You aren’t going to lose a game, and you are going to score usually two or three goals.”
Lenahan said it was one of the best games he had seen his team play despite the team’s inability to score a goal with a large advantage in possession and shots.
NU welcomed back two key players from injury. The Cats clicked right away returning to their normal lineup.
Pett started and played 79 minutes in his return from injury. He led the team with five shots.
Junior defender Drew Ratner also returned to the starting lineup after suffering a concussion just more than a week ago.
Pett said things felt like they were returning to normal as the team got back into rhythm with its usual starters back on the field. NU has yet to lose a game with Pett starting.
With one Big Ten game remaining, Pett said Saturday’s tie will serve as a reminder as the Cats prepare for the postseason ahead.
“I think it just reminds the team to keep working hard to keep bringing that final energy and that killer instinct to those 0-0, 1-1 games where you have got to get a result,” Pett said. “It shows us that not everything comes easy and we are going to have to keep working hard in practice and throughout the week to score goals and get back on the board.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected].
