They barely had time to collect their thoughts before leaving the field. Perhaps a minute passed by, if that, before the Wildcats had to take the long walk across the pitch, clearing the way for the next Big Ten Tournament matchup.
For eight Northwestern seniors, this was their last walk across Lakeside Field, after falling 3-0 to Penn State in their final match of the season. As they strolled across the field, I was surprised to see that there were no tears.
A few players offered smiles, a few laughed as they greeted little kids who had come onto the field. A few looked stricken. But I suddenly got this eerie feeling that I was the saddest person in the stadium.
Perhaps they have grown accustomed to losing. The Cats haven’t always been awful, but it’s been a long time since they were good. The last time they finished higher than fifth in the Big Ten was in 1998. The last time they put up a winning record in conference play was 2004. This is clearly a program in need of a shake-up.
To be honest, I didn’t expect to feel the Lakeside Blues upon returning to the picturesque soccer field along Lake Michigan. Yet, pretty much as soon as I got there, I felt a wave of depression come over me.
Part of it is the sentimentalism of having covered this team back in 2009. The women’s soccer team represented my first foray into sports journalism. It was on those chilly nights at Lakeside Field, holding my tape recorder out against the wind, when I decided I wanted to be a sports journalist.
The sadness can also be attributed to this being my senior year, and realizing that this beautiful November night was in all likelihood the last time I would ever watch this team play.
But the most significant reason for my depression has to be the pain of watching a season end before the team in question ever took off.
To say the 2011 season went awfully for the Cats would be an understatement. They finished 2-16-1. Whereas some terrible teams improve over the course of a season (Minnesota football, how you doing?), NU struggled right to the end, dropping 10 of its final 12 games.
It’s not solely about losses though. The bigger issue is this program has become an absolute laughingstock. In a 6-0 loss to Stanford, the Cats got outshot 36-4. At least the Cardinal is a top team. In some ways, NU’s 6-1 loss at the hands of a good – but not great – Iowa team is even less excusable.
In an era when nearly all of the Cats’ 19 athletics teams are on the rise, this type of result is not acceptable.
It’s time for athletic director Jim Phillips to take a close look at the women’s soccer program. I’m not saying it’s time to fire coach Stephanie Foster. Let’s not forget that this was an awfully young NU squad.
But I do think it is fair to say that her fate should be tied to that of her current players. If star goalkeeper Anna Cassell, sophomore scorer Kate Allen and freshman midfielders Georgia Waddle and Sami Schrakamp cannot lead this team to the Promised Land, then maybe it’s time for someone else to lead this program.
After NU scored just 13 goals in 19 games this season, expectations can only be so high in Evanston. I’m not asking for a Big Ten Championship. Just a goal or two would be nice.
Sports editor Jonah Rosenblum is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected]
