Men’s Soccer

Despite a solid night offensively, the Wildcats are still winless in September.

Northwestern (1-6-1, 0-2-1 Big Ten) had a season-high 17 shots against DePaul (5-2-2) on Wednesday night, but was unable to secure its first win of the month, falling to the Blue Demons 2-1 at Martin Stadium.

The Wildcats got off to a good start, controlling possession of the ball and creating several scoring chances. In the third minute, junior forward Elo Ozumba created separation from his defender after receiving a well-placed through ball from freshman defender Mattias Tomasino. Ozumba put a shot on goal but Quentin Low, the Blue Demons’ goalkeeper, made a diving save to keep the Cats off the board.

Five minutes later, the Cats had another prime opportunity to take the lead when senior forward Mike Roberge used his speed to get past two DePaul defenders, earning an NU corner kick. Sophomore Camden Buescher took the corner, collected the rebound off a DePaul defender and then took a shot that was once again saved by Low.

“We had really good chances early in the game that we have to put away,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “The first 20 minutes we were really good.”

The rest of the first half, however, was a different story. The Blue Demons were able to get better possession of the ball as the half wore on, using long passes to attack the Cats’ defense over the top. They were finally able to poke a hole through NU’s defense in the 35th minute.

DePaul’s leading scorer, midfielder Simon Megally, received a deep cross from midfielder Hans Wustling and buried it into the top right corner past outstretched junior goalkeeper Francisco Tomasino.

“It was their first good chance in the half,” Lenahan said. “Their best player scored the goal and that was one of the things that we didn’t want to happen.”

While NU was able to get to halftime without conceding another goal, the Blue Demons continued their pressure into the start of the second half. In the 76th minute, DePaul’s counter-attack, which had created several dangerous scoring chances already in the game, produced another goal when Megally placed a through ball to forward Zach El-Shafei, who placed a low driving shot into the left side of the net.

To the Cats’ credit, they came right back a minute later with their first goal of the game. Senior defender Nathan Dearth tapped in a rebound off senior midfielder Brandon Medina’s corner kick.

“We knew we were in a tough spot and needed to get a goal,” Buescher said.

NU had two more corner kick opportunities in the last minute of the game but was unable to convert them to steal a tie.

For the game, the Cats put more shots on goal (7) than the Blue Demons (4) and had 10 corner kicks to DePaul’s four, but once again dropped a tight contest, their fifth loss by one goal this season.

“We produced the most scoring chances that we’ve had all year. We just need to work on finishing,” Dearth said.

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