There was never any need to hype the Northwestern – Notre Dame matchup.
Facing one of its fiercest Midwest rivals in the midst of an uncharacteristically rough start to its season, senior forward Matt Eliason said that NU is keenly aware of the season-changing potential of the game.
So perhaps it’s fitting that when the Wildcats take the field against the Fighting Irish Wednesday night, the stadium as well as the stakes will loom a bit larger. For the first time in program history, NU will play a regular season match at Toyota Park, home of the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.
“This game was always going to be important to us,” Eliason said. “One game can change an entire season so playing it at that stadium against a team like Notre Dame is going to make it even more of a pressure situation, but also just a great opportunity.”
NU (3-4) may be a stranger to the venue, but it is certainly no stranger to high pressure matches against Notre Dame (3-2-2). The two teams have faced off 17 times, with Fighting Irish winning 12 of those contests. But NU has seized the most important games recently, knocking Notre Dame out of the second round of the NCAA tournament for the past two years. This game will mark the first time that NU and Notre Dame will face off in the regular season since 2000.
Coach Tim Lenahan said it will be good practice for a potential NCAA tournament appearance, where they would likely face the Fighting Irish in regional rounds.
“Notre Dame is the more established program obviously,” Lenahan said. “But we’ve really begun to close the gap over the past couple of years.”
The gap may be more imposing this year than ever before, with NU starting one of its youngest lineups in program history. Last Sunday’s matchup against a veteran-powered No. 11 Michigan State saw NU playing timidly at the opening of the game and conceding its second own goal in as many games.
Senior defender and captain Cody Stanley said that the slow start to the season has been surprising, especially for a senior class not accustomed to losing this early on.
“It’s definitely strange for us to be losing at this point in the season,” Stanley said. “But as seniors we’ve got to be responsible for helping the team, and particularly the younger guys, to turn that around. This game will really test that.”
If NU is going to pass the test it will need a bit more luck up top. The Cats have gone scoreless in their past two games, and Eliason has found the back of the net just once this season on a penalty kick that cemented him as NU’s all-time leading goal scorer.
“Obviously it’s frustrating not to be scoring as much as I would like,” Eliason said after NU’s loss to Michigan State on Sunday. “But I can’t let that get to me. Sometimes it’s also about setting other people up if I am not getting the goals.”
Junior forward Oliver Kupe has been NU’s best hope up front. Kupe has pitched in a team-leading three goals this season and has provided a much needed distraction against defenses that double-team Eliason.
Kupe got his first big offensive break against Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2008. The then-freshman scored two goals, the first in his collegiate career, to lift the Cats over the Fighting Irish 2-1.
Whether it’s Kupe or a younger player, Lenahan said the Cats will need someone to step up and do what has proven elusive in the past two games: finish.
“It does come down to making plays,” Lenahan said. “The last few years we have been able to do that against Notre Dame. This year we are going to need to do that again.”
