On a night intended to honor its steady senior class, Northwestern’s volatile 4-2 loss to Michigan made for something of an ill-fitting tribute.
Any traces of the sentimentality present during the pregame ceremony at Lakeside Field on Saturday had vanished by the final whistle, along with NU’s hopes of securing a crucial second-place seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament – now a must-win if the Wildcats to want to claim a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
It was arguably NU’s (8-7-2, 2-3-1 Big Ten) most heated game this season thanks to 37 fouls, seven yellow cards, one red card, four straight Michigan (11-4-3, 4-2-0) goals and a smattering of questionable officiating.
“There’s always a lot of excitement going into this game,” senior center back Jack Hillgard said. “Walking through that line and giving all the guys on the team a hug – it just means so much. I was proud of the way we played in that first half, but after that it seemed like things just, well, they died down a bit.”
NU was very much alive in the opening stanza, possessing fluidly in the midfield and mounting ample offensive pressure.
Just eight minutes into the match, senior midfielder Matt Eliason beat his defender on the right flank to fire off a well-placed cross from the endline that skimmed its way to the foot of junior forward Oliver Kupe at the top of the six-yard box. Kupe fired it up and over Michigan goalie Chris Blais to put away his ninth goal of the season and give Eliason his team-leading sixth assist.
“It was good combinations in the middle that got the ball wide to Eli,” Kupe said. “I didn’t really get to look up to know where the goal was, but I just shot it blindly.”
The lead seemed like it would hold through the half until Michigan earned a free kick from 35 yards out in the 34th minute. Though the goal was credited to midfielder Hamoody Saad, who took the free kick, NU argued a hand ball from Michigan forward Justin Meram in the box redirected the ball and caused sophomore keeper Jonathan Harris to completely misread the shot.
After a heated debate with the referees that earned two NU players and one Michigan player yellow cards and the NU bench a red card, the Cats went into halftime rattled and without a much-needed edge.
“We scored a great goal; they scored a controversial goal,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “We probably should go into halftime 1-0 up with a little margin for error. It’s tough when you’re doing all the right things and then somebody doesn’t do their job – I’m not talking about the players either.”
Michigan capitalized on its good fortune by seizing the offensive momentum in the opening minutes of the second half. A pass from Soony Saad, Hamoody’s brother, found an unmarked Alex Wood at the top of the box. This time it was sheer placement that guided Woods’ shot from 15 yards out and gave the Wolverines the lead.
That goal opened up the offensive floodgates for Michigan.
NU’s defense, playing without usual starters in sophomore center back Jarrett Baughman and freshman left back Scott Lakin, had trouble containing the Saad brothers and Meram, who together combined for 29 of Michigan’s 37 goals this season.
Hillgard has helped to anchor the defense with senior veteran Cody Stanley since Baughman went down with a concussion against Ohio State in early October, but Lakin’s absence caused Lenahan to shuffle around his back line once again. Junior Peter O’Neill switched from his usual right back to fill in for Lakin and sophomore John Rogers filled out the back four.
“There were obviously plays where we just broke down,” Hillgard said. “But for some of the game we did do a very good job containing them, especially given all the injuries we’re dealing with.”
Less than two minutes after Woods’ goal, Soony Saad notched an insurance goal for Michigan off a Meram cross. Then in the 64th minute, Hamoody Saad set up Meram for a goal from 10 yards out to put the game out of reach.
Kupe would manage one more response for NU, with a volleyed goal in the 83rd minute off a cross from sophomore Nick Gendron to cut the final deficit to two.
The loss means NU is facing yet another must-win situation at the Big Ten Tournament at Penn State on Thursday when they will face the hosts in the opening round. The Cats earned a No. 5 seed in the tournament.
“Now it’s do or die. We’re the only team that really needs to win,” Lenahan said. “Five other teams are playing for seeding, so we’re a team backed up against a wall. I think we’re going to respond.”
