During the final stretch of its regular season, Northwestern approached each match with a do-or-die mentality as it looked to climb out of the RPI rankings basement and into NCAA Tournament contention.
In reality, though, there was always one lifeline available if all else failed: winning the Big Ten tournament.
After dropping its last two conference games, NU, seeded No. 5 in the tournament, needs to do just that if it wants to qualify for its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
“All the hardship, it’s actually helped us,” senior midfielder Piero Bellizzi said. “Now we’re going in fighting for our survival and we have the edge because if they win, we lose and we’re done. This is it.”
First up for NU (8-7-2, 2-3-1) will be tournament hosts No. 4 Penn State (11-6-1, 2-3-1) on Thursday.
In its last two Big Ten matchups of the regular season against then-No. 25 Indiana and Michigan, NU was poised to put together a clutch performance, grabbing the lead early in both games. But in both instances NU faltered midway through the second half, dropping consecutive goals to their opponents despite playing fluidly and attacking well even into the final minutes of the game.
After the two games coach Tim Lenahan said he was pleased with the overall performance, if not the final result.
But this time around, the play will have to translate on the scoreboard, something that Lenahan said might just require a little luck.
“I’ve been around long enough to know the soccer gods are a little fickle,” Lenahan said. “They’ve been away from us for long enough now that I’ve got a feeling that they are about to jump back on the Wildcat bandwagon.”
NU could probably use some divine interference if it wants to keep one of the Big Ten’s most prolific scorers in Penn State’s Corey Hertzog from finding the back of the net.
Last time NU faced Penn State, it was Hertzog who fired off a shot that looked like it would sail over the crossbar, but instead snuck just under it to give Penn State the early lead - for 41 seconds at least.
That’s all the time it took for sophomore midfielder Kyle Schickel to notch his second collegiate goal and secure a tie that would hold through two overtime periods.
“We need to find their go-to players and lock them down this time,” Schickel said. “We know who that is. Obviously, we need to get a goal, too.”
That job will likely fall to junior forward Oliver Kupe, who has polished off a team-leading 10 goals this season. Slotted in behind him will be senior Matt Eliason, who has helped to fuel Kupe’s attack with a team-leading six assists.
Bellizzi said the game has particular meaning for NU’s seniors, who could be playing in their last career game. He said that sort of emotion is important to balance with a cool head.
“It’s not like football where you just get to run around and hit people,” Bellizzi said. “You’ve got stay more composed because if not the other team will take advantage of that emotion. It’s difficult, but I think we can do it.”
