Football at Minnesota – November 1, 2008
No starting quarterback. No starting running back. Coming off a disheartening 21-19 loss to Indiana. On the road against No. 20 Minnesota. It seemed Northwestern would need a record-setting performance to even have a chance in this game.
Fortunately, that’s just what the Wildcats got.
Mike Kafka started for the injured C.J. Bacher and rushed for a Big Ten quarterback record 217 yards on 27 carries, paving the way for the 24-17 upset win. On a day in which Omar Conteh had 12 yards rushing on 12 carries, Kafka provided nearly all the offense, also compiling 143 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.
But the Cats needed more than Kafka to seal the win. Safety Brendan Smith provided the heroics.
Instead of settling for overtime, the Golden Gophers went for the win through the air with less than a minute on the game clock. On second-and-seven at his own 29-yard line, Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber tried connecting with Eric Decker on a pass, but two deflections later the ball ended up in the hands of Smith at midfield. He bobbed and weaved his way 48 yards into the endzone to put NU up seven with 12 seconds remaining. The Cats held on for their seventh and arguably most important win of the season.
Men’s Basketball at Michigan State – January 21, 2009
Heading into East Lansing on Jan. 21, Northwestern had an opportunity to push the reset button on several Michigan State streaks.
Even though the Spartans were ranked seventh in the country, the Wildcats clawed their way to push that button with a 70-63 win at the Breslin Center.
Among the streaks snapped were Michigan State’s 28-game home winning streak, which was third best in the nation. The Spartans had also beaten the Wildcats 12 times in a row and had an 11-game winning streak going into the game.
Kevin Coble contributed 31 points to lead the Cats, and he got some help when the Spartans made a late push. MSU cut the lead to 49-48 with 7:24 left in the game, but consecutive three-pointers by Craig Moore and Michael Thompson helped cushion the lead, which NU would protect for the rest of the game.
The upset victory came just three days after the Cats stunned Minnesota at home, marking the first time in school history NU upset back-to-back ranked teams.
Lacrosse vs. Pennsylvania – May 22, 2009
In 2008, Northwestern avenged its regular season loss to Pennsylvania in the national championship game to win its fourth consecutive national title. In 2009, Penn was looking to do some avenging of its own in the semifinals after falling 11-9 to NU in the regular season.
The Quakers were less than a second away from doing so. In the final seconds of the first overtime period, the Wildcats found themselves trailing by a goal. Katrina Dowd scooped up a loose ball in front and fired a no-look, over-the-shoulder shot from her knees to bury the ball in the back of the net with 0.3 seconds left. The highlight-reel goal was her 18th of the postseason, setting a new NCAA postseason mark for scores. Just a few minutes later, NU took advantage of the new life and won 13-12 in double-overtime.
With just under 10 minutes in regulation, the Cats led 11-7 and seemingly had the game wrapped up. But four unanswered goals by the Quakers sent the game into overtime.
In the first overtime, NU controlled the clock by holding the ball for most of the three-minute period. But that clock management turned against them when a big save by Penn led to a Quaker goal with 11 seconds remaining.
Hannah Nielsen got the ball on the draw and hurried a shot on goal, which was knocked away, but Dowd put the ball in off the deflection to tie the game at 12. Meredith Frank notched the only goal in the second overtime, which gave the Cats the win and their fifth straight title.
