After sitting out of Northwestern’s loss to Michigan State on Oct. 17 because of injury, sophomore midfielder Chelsea Armstrong got back to her usual scoring ways on Sunday.
Armstrong scored all four NU goals as the Wildcats (11-6, 3-1 Big Ten) went into Iowa City and beat Iowa 4-2.
The Cats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead 12 minutes into the contest off two penalty corners. Senior defender Sarah Marcincin made the pass to the top of the circle and redshirt senior defender Stacy Uchida trapped the ball for both of Armstrong’s goals in the first half.
Iowa (3-12, 0-5) regrouped after an early timeout, and forward Kim Scraper scored from close range following a penalty corner just four minutes later to cut the lead to one. The Hawkeyes tied the game at two three minutes before the end of the half when forward Sarah Drake chipped a shot from close range over sophomore goalie Amanda Wirth.
“It was a combination of Iowa stepping up their level after their timeout and us not being as aggressive as we needed to be,” coach Tracey Fuchs said.
The second half was a different story as the Cats played in a more focused way. Armstrong scored her third goal of the match by deflecting a shot from Marcincin over goalie Kathleen McGraw.
About 10 minutes later, the combination of Marcincin, Uchida and Armstrong struck for the third time and iced the Cats’ first victory over Iowa since 2004.
“We really wanted to get some momentum going into the two games next weekend after the two tough losses last weekend,” Marcincin said.
Armstrong played all 70 minutes on Sunday despite coming off an injury. Her second four-goal effort of the season, the first against UC Davis on Oct. 7, earned her Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors for the fourth time this season.
“Chelsea was on fire today, ” Fuchs said. “She was fully healthy and because we have one game this weekend, the starters played a majority of the game. With the easy work week they should be ready to go for Friday.”
The victory kept the Cats on track for a share of their first Big Ten title since 1994. Michigan and Ohio State are currently tied for the lead at 4-1 in conference with NU right behind at 3-1.
Marcincin’s four assists are the most in a game this year by a Big Ten player and gives her nine in the season. Uchida’s three helpers on the day tie her with Armstrong for the team lead with 11 assists.
With two games left in the regular season, Armstrong leads the Big Ten with 23 goals and 57 points, the second-best single season marks in NU history, five goals and seven points shy of Lisa Griswold’s 1983 season. Through her first 37 games at NU, Armstrong is fifth in school history in both career goals (45) and career points (113), 14 goals and 26 points shy of both records.
Next up for NU is a date with No. 11 Penn State on Friday at Lakeside Field. A win in that match would guarantee the Cats a top-three seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which NU is hosting Nov. 4-7. The Cats will end their regular season at home against No. 9 Michigan State on Sunday.
