Soccer is not a box score sort of game. The number of shots, saves and goals, though important, rarely tells the full story.
The Northwestern men’s 1-0 loss to Holy Cross last Sunday, in which the Wildcats outshot the Crusaders 18-2 but let in a fluky own goal, proved just that.
“Nine times out of 10 we would have won that game,” said junior goalkeeper Drew Kotler, who was helpless to defend against the own goal. “But we didn’t. We outshot them 18-2 and had good possession, but that wasn’t enough. To some extent you just have to put a loss like that behind you and move on.”
NU (3-3) will need to mentally recover from the loss, but it will also need to find the back of the net when it plays No. 15 Michigan State (7-1) on the road on Sunday. So far, junior forward Oliver Kupe has had the most success doing that, notching a team-leading three goals for the Cats. Kupe pitched in a two-goal effort in a win over Cleveland State earlier in the season, as well as the first goal in NU’s 2-0 defeat of Gonzaga on Friday.
But the Cats will need more offensive firepower in their first conference matchup of the season to counter a Spartans team on a 5-game winning streak. Michigan State also has the edge in goals, posting 23 this season to NU’s 12.
“Some of our movements and patterns of play we need to execute better,” Kupe said. “You’re not going to get 18 shots against a Michigan State, so you’ve got to finish where you can.”
Led by a talented midfield that features seniors Jack Hillgard and Piero Bellizzi, NU’s play between the boxes has been fluid. Hillgard has netted two goals so far this season, including the final one against Gonzaga last Sunday. The 6-foot-3 midfielder used his height to get a piece of Bellizzi’s well-placed corner kick to head home an insurance goal for the Cats.
The key to NU’s success up front will be to connect better moving the ball out of the midfield and into the final third, assistant coach Neil Jones said.
“Against Holy Cross we were really lacking that top quality in the final third,” Jones said. “We weren’t getting the good services, and when we were getting the good services we didn’t have the right runs. In order to even have a shot at scoring goals, we will need to be able to do both.”
This boils down to timing. While practice can build that sort of intuition, Kupe said that the greatest determinant is experience. But with a team that is routinely starting up to five freshmen, experience is in short order.
“We are still learning to play with each other out there,” Kupe said. “There are so many new combinations out there that, each game, we have to learn something new. You’re going to see us continue to get better because of that, and hopefully, score some goals.”
