No. 8 Northwestern (10-4) went 1-1 this weekend in Michigan, trouncing Central Michigan (4-9) 4-0 Sunday morning after a tight 2-1 loss to No. 7 Stanford (14-1) on Friday.

NU’s loss to Stanford, played at neutral-site Ocker Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, ended the Wildcats’ six-game winning streak.

Junior Caroline Troncelliti scored her ninth goal of the season off a pass from redshirt senior Kelsey Thompson 3:30 into the game, giving the Cats an early lead. Troncelliti is now tied with sophomore Isabel Flens for the team high in goals.

“Kelsey had it around the end line, taking it through some defenders and passing it out in front of the net,” Troncelliti said. “I was just right there to tip it in.”

Stanford responded less than six minutes later, when Hannah Thiemann scored off a penalty corner at 9:15. Maddie Secco and Kelsey Harbin assisted the goal.

The score remained even throughout the rest of the half as the two top-10 defenses held off the offensives.

“It was such a back and forth game,” coach Tracey Fuchs said. “You know when No. 7 and No. 8 play that it’s going to be a close game.”

Twelve minutes into the second half, the Cats looked to pull ahead after earning their second corner of the period. However, Stanford goalkeeper Dulcie Davies, who leads the nation in save percentage (.849), held off consecutive shots by juniors Lena Phillips and Lisa McCarthy.

Senior goalkeeper Maddy Carpenter made a save in the 54th minute and the NU defense held off consecutive Cardinal penalty corners to keep the score notched at 1-1.

Stanford took the lead with 7:18 remaining when Secco scored unassisted.

Although a yellow card with two minutes remaining put the Cats down a player, NU pulled Carpenter out of the goal and continued to press. Their aggressive offense paid off when they earned a penalty corner with over a minute remaining, but Davies saved a shot from Flens and Stanford held on to win.

“It could have gone either way,” Fuchs said. “The great thing about this team is our ability to bounce back.”

And bounce back they did. Junior Kelley Stump recorded a hat trick to lead the Cats to a 4-0 victory over the Central Michigan Chippewas on Sunday.

“We knew that (it) was a game we needed to win,” Stump said.

Stump tallied her first goal of the game with 4:25 left in the first half to give the Cats a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.

“We had a little bit of a slow start,” Fuchs said, “But we were able to come out aggressively in the second half.”

McCarthy started the half off by scoring off a rebound 1:56 into the period. Stump brought the Cats’ lead to 3-0 at 51:41 before completing her hat trick off a pass from sophomore Dominique Masters. The score remained 4-0 until time expired.

The Cats’ aggressive play was clearly evident, as they had 29 shots and earned 19 corners.

“They’re a tough team and we had to put in a lot of effort,” Troncelliti said. “We had nice team play, passing and working really well together.”

The Cats hope to continue their cohesive play as they face Big Ten opponents Michigan and Michigan State this weekend.

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Twitter: @Claire_Hansen_