The last time Mackenzie Wood took the field, the freshman goalkeeper had two senior defenders — now playing professionally with the Chicago Red Stars — helping to protect the goal for all 90 minutes.

Five months after Northwestern’s 1-0 loss to North Carolina State in the Round of 64 of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Wood was back in the net for the Wildcats’ first exhibition of their spring season. But in this starting lineup, there were no defenders who had ever played on the back line in an NCAA game.

And Wood had to manage the new-look defense against some of the best young forwards on the North American continent.

To open NU’s 2019 spring season, the Mexican under-20 women’s national team — which features the country’s top up-and-coming players and an experienced starting lineup — beat the Cats 2-0 at Martin Stadium on Sunday night.

“Our girls were talking immediately after the game, saying, ‘Holy crap, they knew where they were going,’” coach Michael Moynihan said. “The girls were like, ‘they never talked, but they always read each other’s body language and they were always a step ahead.’”

After losing 2-1 to the Mexican U-20 National Team in Evanston in 2017, Moynihan reached out again to their team manager to schedule another matchup for the spring of 2019. In the previous game, the Cats played a lineup of experienced upperclassmen who were more aggressive against the Mexican team.

Moynihan said the rematch was an opportunity for him to get a first look at a large contingent of players who didn’t see the field much last season, but are competing for starting roles in 2019. Since the incoming recruits have not yet arrived on campus and the roster is incomplete, Moynihan was forced to scramble together lineups that had hardly played together, even in practice.

“Coming into the day we thought we’d only have 12 (healthy) field players, and not one of the players that started had any experience in the back for us,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for these kids because we lost eight starters. For them to play a team with this much experience and play a game of that quality before the fall was outstanding.”

The Mexican national team took the lead in the 19th minute, after forward Mariel Román found herself one-on-one with Wood about 20 yards away from the goal and chipped the ball over the approaching goalkeeper. After sending a through ball that curved past multiple retreating Cats defenders, midfielder Yanin Madrid found Román open and received the assist.

NU had a chance to tie in the 89th minute when a crossed ball from sophomore midfielder Regan Steigleder found freshman defender Kaylee Titus after bouncing around in the box. But Titus misconnected on her attempt on the goal, and the Mexican team scored on the following possession.

Even though the Cats only had three major offensive chances in the 90 minutes, Mexico coach Mónica Vergara said the game helped give her a better idea of her team heading into future international competitions.

“They know how to play,” she said. “These kind of games help us a lot. They are a very good team.”

The game was played in front of a crowd that was heavily in favor of the road team, and several fans sported Mexican jerseys and flags during the game. NU World Cup, a club on campus, invited a Chicago-based youth team from its partner nonprofit, Gonzo Soccer to guide both teams out on the field and play a scrimmage at halftime.

Gonzalo Perez participated in a section of fans leading cheers for the Mexican team. He attended the game with his daughter — a goalie on one of the club teams in attendance. Perez said his daughter spent the game analyzing the play of Wendy Toledo, Mexico’s goalkeeper, looking for pointers she could take into her own games.

“Hopefully these girls will look up to these players and say that ‘I want to play college soccer,’” Perez said. “The whole team itself is very good, and I’m very surprised just how young they are. And Northwestern, they’re OK, too.”

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