Northwestern broke a couple of bad streaks Sunday versus Michigan State. The Wildcats ended their scoring drought with their first goal in two weeks, but more importantly, they recorded their first win since September 25th. Now, they head on the road to face Iowa, hoping to win consecutive games for the first time since they won three straight in early September.
“Any momentum is going to be huge for us,” assistant coach Danielle Slaton said. “We have struggled to be consistent and put a string of wins together. We had a little bit of a run at the beginning of the season, but after that we’ve struggled to put wins together.”
NU (5-8-2, 2-3-1 Big Ten) will take on an Iowa team that has struggled recently. After starting out 7-2, the Hawkeyes (8-7, 0-5) have lost four straight games, and five of their last six. The Hawkeyes are still looking for their first win in Big Ten play.
“Iowa hasn’t been getting the results in the Big Ten,” Slaton said. “They’re struggling to get their first win, but they’re a talented team. Last year, we went all the way to overtime with them, and they’re a similar team to the team they threw on the field last year, so I think we know that when it comes to Iowa, they’re always a team that’s going to battle and take pride and fight for everything.”
Last year’s overtime win continued a pattern of dominance over Iowa. The Cats have a career 8-3-1 record versus the Hawkeyes and haven’t lost to Iowa since 2001.
Yet Iowa may be looking at NU’s sub-.500 record as an opportunity to notch its first conference win.
“Anyone who’s winless in the Big Ten at this point is pretty desperate to get one, and so looking at us, we’re one of only two teams in the Big Ten with a losing record,” coach Stephanie Erickson said. “Teams can look at our record and think victory when they’re looking at us as a Big Ten opponent. They’re going to come out hard and expect that they’ll come away with this one.”
NU heads into Thursday’s game with defensive momentum. With a shutout of the Spartans on Sunday, the Cats have now given up just one goal in their last 259 minutes of play.
“We’ve learned a lot from little mistakes from the beginning, and we communicate a lot better,” freshman defender Briana Westlund said. “Hopefully we continue that communication, keep working together and stay on the same page.”
NU’s defense will face a Hawkeyes offense that averages 1.8 goals per game, but ranks 9th in the Big Ten in shots and 10th in corners.
The Hawkeyes are led by junior forward Keli McLaughlin, who is tied for second in the Big Ten with eight goals.
“Keli is super fast. She’s worked our camp, so we know her a little outside just being an opponent,” Erickson said. “She likes to run at you. She’ll run the whole length of the field.
She’s a good counter-attacking player, and she’ll take chances. She’s a scary player.”
The Cats come in with some positives on the offensive side of the ball as well. While they have had trouble finding the net all season, they have put up 10 or more shots in each of their last four games.
“We’re definitely finding our offensive power here at the end of the season,” junior forward Sam Greene said. “It’s coming from our backs to our midfielders to our forwards, so it’s not just one level. Hopefully we can put more than one away against Iowa to make sure that we win.”
The offense will look to take advantage of a Hawkeyes defense that has given up 10 goals in its last three games.
“We always think we can win every single game,” Greene said. “It’s not that we’re going to be more aggressive than usual, but we might get some opportunities that we wouldn’t get against a more athletic defensive backfield like Penn State or Ohio State.”
