A college soccer goal is fairly large, 7 feet high by 21 feet wide. As big as the net may be, Northwestern has been unable to find it of late. They enter Sunday’s game against Michigan State with a scoreless streak lasting more than 240 minutes of game time.
“Our issue is we just aren’t willing to take a chance when it’s not quite perfect,” coach Stephanie Erickson said. “That’s the sign of us not having natural goal-scorers, instinctual goal-scorers right now.”
Despite a recent improvement in shots taken, the Wildcats (4-8-2, 1-3-1 Big Ten) are still last in the Big Ten in goals. They have scored 10 times in 14 games this season. They’ll need to improve on that versus Michigan State.
“We’ve got to work on being in the box and just taking chances when we get them,” Erickson said, “instead of looking for what might feel like the perfect opportunity to put one in the back of the net.”
NU comes into the weekend in need of a win. The Cats have lost three of their last four games and haven’t won since Sept. 25th.
“We focus on playing well and playing together, and we just expect the wins to come,” senior defender Ali Rubnitz said. “We’ve kind of had some unfortunate games, but I think we’re ready to get it going.”
Michigan State (7-1-4, 1-1-2) holds a lifetime record of 10-4-2 against NU. Last season, the Cats lost one game by more than two goals. The opponent: Michigan State.
“We all remember that game,” Erickson said. “It was kind of like our Penn State game this year. We didn’t show up last year, and against a team that has dangerous and potent attackers, you can’t do that. So they punished us, nice and early, and everyone who was here last year remembers that.”
This weekend the Cats have a chance to avenge that defeat against the Spartans.”Every Big Ten game is important, but given last year’s history, it would be nice to come back,” Rubnitz said. “Especially because we have only a couple more home games, I think we’re just really pumped to get going.”
The Spartans bring a potent offense to the table. They have scored 24 goals this season, tied for second in the Big Ten in goals per game.
“It’s really important to just get numbers behind the ball and to make sure we’re compact,” Rubnitz said. “We need to make sure that we don’t get isolated 1-v.-1’s.”
The Spartans’ offense is led by forwards Laura Heyboer and Lauren Hill. Heyboer, a sophomore, is currently second in the Big Ten with 19 points. She has scored seven goals and five assists on the season. Hill, a senior, is currently second in the Big Ten with eight goals.
“They’re great. Heyboer was Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year,” Erickson said. “She’s a very special player, and Lauren Hill is a great attacker, so you can’t just worry about one of them, you have to worry about both. I think they’re the key to the game. If we can shut them down, give them as little looks as possible, then we’re putting ourselves in a good position to get three points.”
On defense, the Spartans are anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Jill Flietstra, who leads the Big Ten in both goals against average and save percentage.
The Cats come into this weekend following a strong effort Sunday versus No. 25 Ohio State, in which they were able to maintain a scoreless tie before giving up a goal in the 90th minute.
“It’s definitely disappointing, but I don’t think we’re discouraged. We put together our first complete game against Ohio State, so we know we can put out a 90-minute effort against a good Big Ten team,” senior forward Alicia Herczeg said. “We hope to bring it against Michigan State and get the result this weekend.”
