Northwestern and Michigan battled for 110 minutes Saturday night with rain pounding down on the players, the corner flags flailing in the wind and umbrellas flapping furiously in the stands among a receding crowd.
The two teams played to a 1-1 draw at Lakeside Field, much of the time fighting the conditions more than their opponents.
“(Weather) was the factor,” coach Stephanie Foster said. “This is a whole different game for both teams with normal conditions. I thought it absolutely 100 percent dictated the game.”
The result leaves the Wildcats (5-4-3, 1-1-1 Big Ten) tied for second in the conference, while Michigan (5-2-3, 0-1-1) shares ninth place with Iowa, having played one fewer game.
The relentless playing conditions overshadowed a milestone for the Cats. With seven games left this season, the Cats equaled last season’s goal tally of 15.
“I’m not worried about getting goals this year,” Foster said. “It’s not even close to what it was like last year. It’s just about completing full games, 90 minutes, whatever the game calls for and we’re still figuring that out.
NU’s goal came in the 31st minute, when freshman forward Kate Allen sent in a cross from the left to freshman midfielder Julie Sierks. She tried to drag the ball past the goalkeeper, but it landed at the feet of junior midfielder Jill Dunn who planted the ball in the back of the net.
It was Dunn’s second collegiate goal after she scored her first in last week’s Big Ten opener at Indiana.
The wind favored the Cats in the first half, consistently pushing senior goalkeeper Carolyn Edwards’ punts all the way to the other end of the field.
In the second half, Edwards struggled to kick the ball to midfield against the wind and had a few nervous moments when the ball skidded rapidly toward her on the slippery surface.
“It is very hard (to play in this weather),” Edwards said. “The key is to get your body behind everything and just really concentrate on the ball.”
It was no coincidence that the Cats outshot the Wolverines and took the lead in the first half with the wind behind them, and the Wolverines found the equalizer in the second half when the teams switched sides.
In the 58th minute, Michigan forward Nkem Ezurike, the team’s leading goal scorer with six goals, turned past her defender inside the box and drilled the ball into the bottom right corner of the net past Edwards’ outstretched arms. Ten minutes from the end, Ezurike put the ball in the back of the net a second time when she pounced on a rebound, but the linesman’s flag was up for offside.
Overtime followed the 1-1 score at the end of 90 minutes, and Michigan carried its second-half momentum into the extra two 10-minute periods of play. With a golden goal rule in play, the Wolverines created better chances and nearly won the game with two shots hitting NU’s goal post.
“It was tense,” Foster said. “I thought they took chances well. We struggled to get pressure on the ball.”
The rugged evening finished with the stands nearly empty - only the most devout NU fans and the traveling Michigan fans remained for the final whistle. NU’s players left the field without performing their usual warm down.
“It was awful,” junior forward Emily Langston said. “But you play at Lakeside Field, you have to learn to deal with it.”
