After getting out to an 8-1 start this season, Northwestern was taken down a few notches last weekend.
The No. 10 Wildcats (9-2, 0-1 Big Ten) were on the road for eight of their first nine games and beat four ranked schools at home. However, the momentum did not carry over into Friday, when NU dropped its conference opener 3-2 to Ohio State (7-3, 1-0) in Columbus, Ohio.
“It was a really good battle,” coach Tracey Fuchs said. “We just weren’t able to get that third goal.”
Chelsea Armstrong scored twice for the Cats as the senior attacker continued to add to her school records in points and goals. She got NU off to a quick start with a tally just 2 minutes and 54 seconds into the contest off a penalty corner, but the Cats could only muster up two shots the rest of the half.
The Buckeyes continually buzzed around sophomore goalie Maddy Carpenter and managed 12 shots in the game. Ohio State’s first goal came off a rebound after Carpenter made a save on Berta Queralt, but the forward was there to clean up the rebound. Ohio State took the lead for good just nine minutes later when midfielder Kaitlyn Wagner got the ball on the right side of the cage and buried her shot past Carpenter.
NU had five shots in the second half, including a chance to equalize midway through the frame. However, the apparent goal was called back because it hit an NU player’s foot. Ohio State goalkeeper Emma Voelker made all three of her saves in the second half, and the missed equalizer was just a sign of the NU offense getting into rhythm.
“We were really pressuring them there,” Fuchs said. “The strength of our team is our ability to put goals on the board.”
The Buckeyes scored on an empty net off a penalty corner, and Armstrong answered just 58 seconds later. But it was not enough for the Cats to crawl back into the contest.
The Cats were back at it Sunday against Ohio (4-5) and once again got a goal from Armstrong in the first 10 minutes of the game to take the lead. However, it was freshman midfielder Caroline Troncelliti who scored the clutch goal, finding the back of the cage with just less than 11 minutes remaining to send NU home with a 2-1 win.
“It was really important for us to bounce back,” Fuchs said. “We were focusing on what we needed to fix.”
NU peppered the Ohio goal with shots throughout the first half while keeping the Bobcats shotless during the first 35 minutes. Brittany Walker made the difference for Ohio, making four saves — including three on Armstrong — to keep the Bobcats within a goal at the end of the first half. The only dent in the armor was courtesy of the Cats’ number two leading scorer. Junior midfielder Tara Puffenberger found Armstrong in front of the cage for her Big Ten-leading 16th goal of the season.
“We were getting shots, but they weren’t high quality shots,” Fuchs said. “I was very pleased with how poised we were out there.”
Ohio only got one shot on goal the entire game but made it count 12 minutes into the second half. Adele Sammons’ shot off a penalty corner was deflected and tied the game to capture some of the momentum. It was one of six penalty corners in the second half for the Bobcats and accounted for five of the six shots Ohio had in the second half.
Troncelliti’s tiebreaker came at an opportune time for the Cats, who had just cleared a penalty corner. Redshirt senior midfielder Kaylee Pohlmeyer knocked a pass across to Troncelliti, who then slid the ball under Walker for the goal. It was her fifth goal of the season, which is the most among freshmen and third most on the team.
“It’s really important (to get secondary scoring),” Fuchs said. “(Troncelliti) and Kaylee have really started to get on track and that’s important moving forward.”
