Northwestern’s 3-1 victory over No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday marked a triumphant end to the team’s regular season, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Wildcats into postseason play.
The NCAA Championships bracket was released Sunday. While it featured eight teams from the Big Ten, NU wasn’t one of them.
The Cats didn’t help their own cause this season, dropping many games that were within reach. Against the three unranked Big Ten teams that received bids to the NCAA Championships, NU went just 1-5.
The Cats failed to make the NCAA Championships field of 64 despite three wins against top-25 teams and an impressive 9-2 start to the season.
Their failure to make the NCAA Championships comes as a frustrating setback, following a 2010 campaign in which they defeated then-No. 20 Arizona before falling in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
