Coach Tim Lenahan admits his team is not a physical team. But when Wisconsin-Green Bay punched Saturday, No. 12 Northwestern struck back.
The Phoenix committed 21 fouls in regulation and scored the match’s first goal. But the Wildcats fought back against their physical opponents, forcing overtime.
NU nearly finessed its way to a win in overtime when freshman forward Piero Bellizzi broke through the Wisconsin-Green Bay defense in the 93rd minute. He had a clear shot on goal, but his shot went off the post, forcing the Cats to settle for a 1-1 tie in two overtime periods.
“Sometimes you have to wake up,” Lenahan said. “You want them to be able to play that way from the opening minute and we get a 1-0 win and don’t give up the goal. I thought it was a good game against a good team and a fair result.”
The Phoenix pressured the Cats (11-3-3) throughout the first half and played physically, committing 11 fouls in the opening 45 minutes. Wisconsin-Green Bay (9-4-5) used the frustration caused by this physical play to its advantage and scored the first goal.
Phoenix defender Tyler Rosenberg threw the ball in deep in the Cats’ side of the field in the 34th minute. Defender Glenn Herzog deflected the ball in the box to midfielder David Znaty, who shot the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
NU responded after the goal and took control of the game.
“We stepped up not only physically, but also from a soccer standpoint,” Bellizzi said. “Playing better soccer always prevails over physical. Considering we were playing better and we stepped up physically, they were no match for us. Even though they were all physical and all they did was hit us, they couldn’t keep up with the soccer point of view and that’s why we did better.”
Bellizzi nearly tied it up in the first half when he received a pass from sophomore forward Eamon O’Neill in the 44th minute inside the 18-yard box. Bellizzi shot the ball, which hit off the cross-bar and fell down, but not in to the goal. Senior midfielder David Roth headed the bouncing ball toward the net but could not score as goalkeeper Adam Stikl covered it.
Eventually the new-found energy and offensive pressure got the Cats onto the scoreboard.
Freshman forward Matt Eliason took a cross and dropped it to junior defender Brian Usinger at the top of the box in the 66th minute.
Usinger fired it from 25 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal to tie the game.
“We needed a goal,” Usinger said. “We needed to get it from somewhere. We missed a couple sitters (and) hit a couple posts, which is kind of frustrating. To get the goal is good. I haven’t done my share of that this year. We just kept pouring it on after that. We just were kind of unlucky and didn’t get the game-winner.”
Wisconsin-Green Bay committed 27 fouls, including 21 in regulation. The Phoenix tried to disrupt the Cats’ finesse game with their physical play.
But by the end of the game, the physicality turned into mental mistakes and frustration in the overtime period.
Referees issued four yellow cards in the 20 minutes of overtime and six overall. Usinger, Pett and sophomore defender Mark Blades each picked up yellow cards in the overtime period on hard challenges and arguments with officials.
Lenahan said the physical nature of this game and playing three overtime games in the past five should help NU prepare for the postseason and the Big Ten Tournament this week because similar games are on the horizon.
The Cats are the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will face Wisconsin on Thursday, a team they beat 3-0 on Oct. 6.
“They put the challenge on us and we didn’t back down,” Lenahan said. “Obviously it gets you ready for NCAA Tournament time and Big Ten Tournament time where the games tend to get a little more physical and heated and emotional, and I thought we responded pretty well.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected].
