Looking at Northwestern’s early season results, it appeared that the best chance to beat the Wildcats was to shut down junior forward Chelsea Armstrong. Then came a weekend development that is certain to strike fear in NU’s opponents.
The emergence of new goal-scoring threats led to a 5-4 win Saturday over New Hampshire. Claire Thompson and Maria Kovalchuk each set career highs with two goals apiece and Regan Mooney added a score in the dynamic offensive effort.
It was a far cry from the team’s stagnant performance Friday in a 4-1 loss to Indiana. The marked improvement between games was impressive. Less impressive was a NU defense that allowed four goals in each contest.
Coach Tracey Fuchs acknowledged that the team has a number of things to work on. Needless to say, consistency should be one of them if NU hopes to ascend even higher in the rankings.
After a challenging road trip, the Cats are back home for a Tuesday afternoon matchup with Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 conference. The Billikens (1-7) are in the midst of a poor season and hope to recover from a 7-0 loss to Ohio their last time out.
Although it would be egregious to look past Saint Louis, the game should serve as an important tune-up before the Cats hit the road once again for conference battles with Michigan State and Penn State.
