Two disciplined performances yielded two very different results for Northwestern in its final non-conference games of the season.
The Wildcats defeated Illinois State 2-0 on Friday with what NU coach Stephanie Foster called a complete game, but they could not replicate the win two days later in a 2-1 loss against No. 7 Notre Dame at Lakeside Field.
The Fighting Irish (7-1) entered Sunday’s game as the favorite and justified that tag with a commanding performance against the Cats (4-3-2). The Irish took an early lead when forward Melissa Henderson – who threatened NU’s defense all evening – slid the ball forward for teammate Elizabeth Tucker, who dribbled around senior goalkeeper Carolyn Edwards and slotted the ball into an empty net.
Foster responded by taking off junior forward Caroline Dagley and replacing her with freshman midfielder Julia Sierks to shore up the midfield.
Sierks’ impact was immediate. Just 36 seconds after Notre Dame’s goal, senior midfielder Leigh Jakes crossed the ball into the box where Sierks headed it into the back of the net. It was Sierks’ first goal of her collegiate career and the sixth-fastest response to an opponent’s goal in school history.
“It was a great ball from Leigh Jakes,” Sierks said. “She got a good cross off and I headed it, and the next thing I know is, it’s in the goal.”
With Sierks’ entrance, NU shifted to a five-woman midfield leaving freshman Kate Allen as the lone attacker.
The extra presence in the middle couldn’t stop a Notre Dame breakaway as they took the lead for good.
Henderson, one-on-one with Edwards, dragged the ball away from her to face an empty net but was taken down, earning a penalty kick. Henderson stepped up and put the ball in the back of the net.
“Early in the game we had a couple of lapses, and when you have lapses against a team like that, they take advantage,” Foster said. “For a lot of the game I thought we defended well.” Foster added two strikers in the second half, and the last 10 minutes were played out on Notre Dame’s defensive half, but the Fighting Irish held onto their lead to record their seventh win of the season.
“At the end, we had some urgency and courage, and we got some looks at the goal, so it was OK,” Foster said. “I would like to see us go after it for longer in the game.”
On Friday, NU put in a convincing performance and took down Illinois State, thanks to goals from seniors Sam Greene and Jennifer Baumann.
The first half remained scoreless, and the Cats came up empty in the first chance of the second half when senior midfielder Baumann – who scored the winning goal against Illinois State the last time the two sides met two years ago – just missed a cross curled in from the right.
The Cats kept pressing the defensive Redbirds, and with 14 minutes remaining, Greene swung in a free kick that missed her teammates and bounced into the net.
“I was aiming to put it on top of the keeper,” Greene said with a smile, when asked if she meant to score.
Just four minutes later, Baumann wrapped up the victory for NU. After a corner kick deflected off a Redbirds player, Baumann rifled the ball into the top left corner of the goal.
“Basically I saw that free ball, and I wanted to keep my eye on that ball the whole time and just connect with it, and it ended up in the back of the net,” Baumann said.
The Wildcats now have a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series with Illinois State.
“I think we’ve been waiting all season to play a complete game like this,” Foster said. “I’m really pleased. We weren’t really happy with our performance last weekend (against Eastern Michigan), so we put in a lot of work this week. It was a good game for us.”
With the two games, NU concluded its non-conference play and will face Big Ten rival Indiana on Friday.
