Drew Kotler and Jonathan Harris don’t get many opportunities to play, so being forced to make stops unexpectedly in overtime games would seem like a daunting task.
It wasn’t. The two kept their composure and didn’t let butterflies get the better of them.
“There’s always jitters for any goalkeeper stepping into the net,” Harris said. “But once we got out there, it’s just fun.”
With senior Misha Rosenthal sidelined with a concussion this weekend, the duo split minutes this weekend in two games that went past regulation. Each allowed a goal in a 2-2 tie against Drake on Friday, and followed with a 1-0 shutout against SIU Edwardsville on Sunday. The victory was capped off by a Jack Hillgard header to give Northwestern the golden goal.
“If you’d have told me ahead of time that we’d get out of the weekend giving up an average of only one goal, I’d have told you I liked my chances,” coach Tim Lenahan said.
Rosenthal is one of the best goalkeepers in the nation, and has been a constant between the pipes for NU, missing just 90 minutes in the past two seasons.
But Rosenthal’s consistency comes with a price – Kotler’s only game experience came in a 2-0 loss to No. 23 Indiana in last year’s regular season finale when Rosenthal rested. Harris had never played in a game before. Still, each looked as if he had played before this weekend’s games.
NU had multiple opportunities to win Friday’s game. After Kotler surrendered an early Drake score, junior attacker Matt Eliason ripped a shot from just outside the 18-yard box into the bottom-left corner. His Big Ten-leading eighth goal came only 15 seconds into the second half.
The game seemed in NU’s favor when Drake defender Julien Edwards was sent off in the 77th minute for talking back to the referee. The Cats capitalized when senior Eamon O’Neill put away what looked to be the game-winner with only five minutes to play.
But Drake’s star striker Garrett Webb found the ball with space inside the box in the 87th minute. Webb fired a shot, and although Harris got a hand on the ball, it found the back of the net and the damage was done.
“They found a way to get the ball to their best player,” Lenahan said. “We left him open, and he made us pay.”
With 20 minutes of golden-goal overtime, undermanned Drake was more than happy to play keepaway and leave Evanston with the draw.
On Sunday, NU had difficulty capitalizing on opportunities for 90 minutes. Several services were played just out of the reach of Eliason and sophomore forward Oliver Kupe. Every shot that was taken was smothered by Cougar goalkeeper Scott Meyer, who made several diving saves and stopped two NU breakaways with his outstretched arm.
But in the 93rd minute, a Mark Blades free kick from about 30 yards out caught just enough of Hillgard’s head to throw Meyer off.
Hillgard, a 6-foot-3 defensive midfielder, exploited his size to notch his first career goal.
“Defensively, we look forward to going up on free kicks and corner kicks,” Hillgard said. “We knew we were going to get our chances this game because they’re a little bit of a shorter team. It was kind of a relief.”
