Senior forward Matt Eliason had every reason to overthink his penalty kick in Northwestern’s 4-3 win at Wisconsin last Saturday.
With less than two minutes left in regulation, a miss would almost certainly have sealed the Badgers’ 3-2 lead and shattered the Cats’ fragile NCAA tournament hopes.
Instead, he kept it simple.
“I knew I had to score,” Eliason said. “Of course it was nerve-wracking. But I knew I just had to pick a corner and go with it. I’ve done it so many times before that I knew I could do it again and make it easy.”
It’s a situation NU is facing, metaphorically speaking, in its last two regular season matchups. Both games, against impressive conference foes No. 25 Indiana and Michigan, might as well as be the last two minutes of that decisive game. NU can’t afford not to convert in the clutch, as it sits at a less-than prime No. 94 in this week’s RPI rankings.
But with the pressure on at Indiana (8-5-2, 3-0-1 Big Ten) on Sunday, NU (8-5-2, 2-1-1) could also use a little bit of Eliason’s ‘make it easy’ approach.
“You know how important these games are so it makes you play hard,” Eliason said. “But at the same time, you don’t want to be too uptight. Just as a senior knowing that these could be our last few games, you know you’ve got to balance that. We all do.”
Not that NU will be letting down its guard against Indiana, who sits comfortably at No. 8 in the RPI rankings.
The Hoosiers are coming off a 3-0 win over No. 23 Michigan State thanks to two goals and an assist from team-leading scorer Will Bruin.
“If he’s going to score, we’re going to make him earn it,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “Every time we turn over the ball, we’re going to need to kind of take roll of where he is. He can’t get free in the box.”
After conceding all three goals to Wisconsin’s freshman Chris Prince last weekend, NU’s back line knows all too well the importance of marking up.
“What happened in last week’s game where we just kind of broke down was not good,” senior center back Cody Stanley said. “Frankly, that’s just unacceptable. It can’t happen again from here on out.”
NU’s defense has been in flux lately. With sophomore Jarrett Baughman still out thanks to a concussion against Ohio State in early October, senior Jack Hillgard has slotted in beside Stanley. Hillgard, or “Chillgard” to the Cats, has been a steadying presence, using his 6-foot-3 stature to defend in the air.
He also knocked down the 70-yard game winner in overtime against Wisconsin last weekend.
Still, NU will have to contend with more personnel changes after junior Drew Kotler and redshirt freshman Tommy Tombridge both suffered concussions against the Badgers.
Sophomore Jonathan Harris, who recorded his first collegiate win in overtime against Wisconsin, will start in net for the Cats.
“Certainly the older guys have some bigger games under their belts and maybe a little bit more on the line,” Lenahan said. “We just need the freshmen to feed off that confidence level. Indiana has a great stadium, and there should be a big turnout. If you can’t play there, you can’t play anywhere.”
