Skipping to the final goal in a game is a lot like reading the end of a book first – satisfying but a little bit sacrilegious.
In Northwestern’s 4-3 nailbiter of a win at Wisconsin on Saturday night it’s probably the best place to start – four minutes into overtime and 70 yards away from Wisconsin’s net, to be precise. That’s the when and the where of senior midfielder Jack Hillgard’s fluky, if fortuitous, game winner.
The why and the how of his goal are a little tougher to describe, even for Hillgard.
“I saw (senior forward Matt Eliason) up top so I hit a hard ball in the air to him,” Hillgard said. “My first thought was, ‘Oh man, I over-hit it,’ and I sort of did. Then I saw the keeper come out and my next thought was, ‘Maybe it will skip away from him,’ and then it did and I guess it rolled into the net past him. It was a pretty lucky goal, I’m still not sure how it worked out that way.”
In a game that featured seven combined goals, four lead changes, three different NU keepers - thanks to two concussions – and one converted penalty kick, Hillgard’s bizarre goal was a fitting end.
It was a topsy-turvy match that marked Lenahan’s 100th career win at NU (8-5-2, 2-1-1), one that he said was payback for a questionable overtime penalty kick call that gave Wisconsin (1-11-2, 0-3-1) a 2-1 victory last year at Lakeside Field. More importantly, though, it was a must-win for NU, currently sitting precariously on the NCAA tournament bubble. With Indiana and Michigan still looming on its Big Ten slate, a loss to a considerably less-threatening Wisconsin team could have spelled disaster for NU.
“I feel for their team a little bit,” Lenahan said. “But it’s a little karma from last year. You know the soccer gods are just. Sometimes that justice kind of takes time to catch up.”
For a while, it seemed karma had only taken about 50 minutes to catch up, thanks, in large part, to NU’s most diminutive player, freshman midfielder Lepe Seetane. At 5-foot-2, Seetane makes up for what he lacks in size with an expansive repertoire of moves.
In the first half, Seetane freed himself up enough to launch a shot from 20 yards out that tied up the game after an early Badgers’ goal. In the second half, he figured in again when he set up junior forward Oliver Kupe for his team-leading seventh goal of the season, which hit the bottom of the crossbar before finding the back of the net to give NU the 2-1 lead.
“We were playing really well,” Seetane said. “But then, well, I wouldn’t call it a breakdown, but we let them have some plays we shouldn’t have.”
Those plays added up, and with less than 10 minutes left in regulation Wisconsin’s Chris Prince, a Naperville, Ill., native, found a pair of back-to-back goals in the 83rd and 84th minutes to give Wisconsin the lead once again and earn his first career hat trick. Prince leads his team with seven goals, five of which he scored last week, and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
Prince managed to slip his first-half goal past junior keeper Drew Kotler, and his pair of second-half goals beat redshirt freshman Tommy Tombridge. Both Kotler and Tombridge suffered concussions during the game and are currently on a day-to-day basis but are reported to be doing better.
Sophomore Jonathan Harris stepped in for Tombridge in overtime to notch his first career win.
“We let their best goal scorer score three goals,” Lenahan said. “Obviously that’s unacceptable. We’ve got to do a better job of defending on the flanks, and then when that breaks down, marking up in the box.”
Cue karma. Just as it seemed the bus ride back to Evanston would be a somber affair, NU got the sort of break Wisconsin had profited from in their last matchup: a penalty kick. Eliason stepped up with two minutes remaining in regulation to put away his second penalty kick of the season and send the game into overtime.
Hillgard’s game winner four minutes into overtime would mark the fourth goal between both teams in just 12 minutes of play and keep NU’s playoff dreams alive.
“We got lucky, but the guys also played really well,” Lenahan said, barely audible over the team’s celebration. “We’re going to have a pretty good ride home, and the guys are going to have a nice two days off. Then, it’s back to work.”
