It took just 41 seconds for Northwestern to answer Penn State’s first-half goal and, at least for the moment, keep the question of its own NCAA tournament hopes open-ended rather than open-and-shut.
For the Wildcats (6-5-2, 1-1-1 Big Ten), their 1-1 draw with the Nittany Lions (8-4-1, 1-2-1) on Sunday at Lakeside Field was more than just the lesser of two evils.
“Penn State is a very good team,” said sophomore midfielder Kyle Schickel, NU’s lone goal-scorer. “They have the nation’s leading scorer and they move the ball so well that any result is a good result. At the end of the day, we played really good soccer.”
Schickel should know – his goal was the product of that solid play. But in order to appreciate the significance of his equalizer, rewind 41 seconds.
Toward the end of an evenly played first half, the Nittany Lions seemed to be tipping the offensive momentum in their favor. During a scramble in NU’s box, several Penn State shots looked dangerous in the front of the frame, but none of the chances went in, seemingly defying the laws of physics.
Forward Corey Hertzog then took a shot that was off-balance, and looked to be off-course, until it snuck in just under the crossbar and above the outstretched hand of junior goalie Drew Kotler to give Penn State the lead. It was a shot that from any other player might have seemed like a fluke, but because it came from the nation’s leading goal-scorer, Hertzog, it was likely a product of cunning rather than coincidence.
“We let up a goal way too early,” said freshman outside back Scott Lakin. “We could have been in for it.”
Instead, the Cats rallied immediately to put together the sort of play that pays tribute to their possession-style game. As he has done all season, senior midfielder Piero Bellizzi provided the catalyst for NU’s attack by playing a well-timed through ball to an overlapping Lakin.
The Cats flooded the box and freshman forward Reed Losee made a run to the near post, sufficiently distracting Penn State’s defense to allow Lakin to cross the ball along the six to Schickel, who was unmarked at the back post. Schickel finished with poise to give NU the equalizer with five minutes left in the half.
It marked Schickel’s second goal of the season and of his career, the first coming in a similarly clutch fashion when he notched NU’s first goal in its 3-2 comeback over DePaul on Oct. 6.
“It was a great goal that showed kind of exactly what we want to do, how we want to play,” said coach Tim Lenahan.
NU came out more defensively in the second half, giving Penn State the 7-2 edge in shots. But with four minutes left in regulation, senior forward and all-time leading goal-scorer Matt Eliason snuck in behind the defense off a pass from Schickel. One-on-one with Penn State keeper Brendan Birmingham, Eliason lofted his shot over the crossbar for the last serious scoring chance of the second half.
The game then went to two 10-minute overtime periods, but neither team seemed to have the legs to chase the win.
“They had more sustained pressure, but at the end of the day the quality chances were probably pretty close,” Lenahan said. “At the end, probably a fair result for us.”
