Northwestern has been synonymous with Big Ten domination. Nine years. Nine conference titles.
This weekend, the Wildcats hope to add to their legacy, going for an unprecedented 10th straight Big Ten championship.
With a No. 1 national ranking, and a high NCAA seed all but guaranteed, coach Claire Pollard is not looking too far ahead.
“I always look at the achievement in the short term,” Pollard said. “What is done before is in the past. You have to go out there and earn everything you get. Just because you won it before doesn’t mean anything. As far as I am concerned, we are just going after the 2008 Big Ten title.”
This year, NU became the first Big Ten team to be ranked No. 1 in the nation, a ranking the team has held for the past eight weeks. The Cats are currently on a 60-match conference winning streak dating back to 2004.
But as NU awaits the winner of the opening round match between No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Purdue, the team is taking nothing for granted.
Pollard has kept her players focused on the challenges ahead. After last year’s disappointing NCAA Sweet 16 tournament loss to UCLA, the Cats learned nothing was guaranteed.
“Each match we come out, we give the team their respect and know that they could have the best day of their life when they play us,” junior Georgia Rose said.
But the best days in the lives of the NU players have been this season. Pollard said she believes this is the best team she has ever coached.
“They really are a special group of kids,” Pollard said. “We compete so well on game day, and I think the bigger the movement, the better we play, and that’s a sign of a really great team,” Pollard said.
NU defeated Minnesota and Purdue on the road, 7-0, in the regular season.
But NU sophomore Suzie Matzenauer is approaching this match like any game.
“Purdue and Minnesota have nothing to lose so they are going to come out swinging, so we have to be ready for anything,” Matzenauer said.
The NCAAs are exactly where NU wants to be. Another Big Ten title would further the confidence the Cats have gained this season.
“This is exactly what we have worked for the whole season,” Rose said. “This is exactly where we want to be right now.”
