It has been a schedule rife with rivalries for Northwestern.
Fresh off tying a seasoned Notre Dame squad at Toyota Park last week, NU (4-4-1) will host long-time local foe DePaul (3-5-1) at home Wednesday night.
The rivalry is not as high-profile as the Wildcat-Fighting Irish duel, but if history is any indication, it will likely be just as high-drama.
“It’s always a good rivalry because we know a lot of the guys on the team,” junior forward Oliver Kupe said. “Last year that game left us feeling bitter because we felt like they got one-up on us. We have to go out there and beat them this time.”
The bitter feeling traces back to last year’s heartbreaking home opener against the Blue Demons.
Kupe helped to avenge a first half goal by DePaul, slotting the ball to then-junior forward Matt Eliason who netted the equalizer. Just as it seemed NU might pull off the comeback, DePaul responded a mere one minute and 23 seconds later with a goal of its own. The 2-1 score would last, preserving DePaul’s win and perpetuating a rivalry in which the Wildcats hold the edge 13-7-1.
“When the guys talk about last year’s game the freshmen get the sense that we’ve got be ready to play this year,” freshman midfielder Lepe Seetane said. “We know it’s going to be a big game.”
The drama doesn’t end there. In 2007, the last time the teams faced each other before 2009, the game was just as riveting.
Buzzer-beater shots may be commonplace in basketball, but in soccer, where scoring opportunities are frequently in the single digits, they are a rarity. NU managed the seemingly impossible when then-senior defender Matt Witt snuck in his first and only collegiate goal with under a minute left in regulation against the Blue Demons.
“There is definitely a competitive nature to these crosstown matchups,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “We have a tendency to score big goals against DePaul, and they do the same thing.”
NU will look to a friendlier rivalry between its two forwards, Eliason and Kupe, to come up with big goals Wednesday night.
Eliason turned an important corner when he scored his first goal this season that did not come off a penalty kick against Notre Dame last Wednesday. NU’s all-time leading goal scorer was also in good form against Missouri State Sunday, launching a team-high five shots.
It was Kupe, though, who came up with the game-winner against the Bears in the second half, giving him his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Lenahan said that Kupe, whose athleticism is more potent than his shot, is more accustomed to being the playmaker than the goal scorer.
But NU will take goals wherever, and from whomever, it can.
“It’s always good to have some sort of competition within the team,” Kupe said. “I have a ton of respect for Matt because he’s put a lot more in the net than I have. We’re getting a good rhythm up top. If one of us scores that’s a pretty good thing.”
