Men’s Soccer

Pittsburgh forward Josh Hesson dribbled around two Northwestern defenders and lined up for an open shot that could have tied the score with 3:16 left. But junior goalkeeper Miha Miskovic dove to his left and stopped the ball with his fingertips to keep the Panthers off the board and earned the 100th save of his career.

That wasn’t even his biggest save of the match.

Less than a minute later, Miskovic had an even more difficult diving save on a one-timer from defender Sito Sena that was headed for the upper left corner. The second athletic stop from Miskovic saved the Wildcats’ (1-1) 1-0 lead Sunday against Pittsburgh (0-2) and propelled NU to its first win of the year.

“Miskovic was fantastic today,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “To beat a team like that you need great goalkeeping, and certainly Miha gave it to us today.”

NU opened its season playing in a four-team event in Bloomington, Indiana, playing matches Friday and Sunday. In the first contest, the Cats outshot UCLA 17-14 and took the Bruins to overtime, but UCLA forward Milan Iloski scored a golden goal in the 95th minute to hand NU a season-opening loss.

Lenahan said the Cats outplayed the Bruins and actually played better in the opener than they did in their win against Pittsburgh. Following a split of its first two games of the year, Lenahan believes the team has shown progress from last season’s 6-9-5 campaign.

“We knew we had two tough opponents in here and to go 0-2, that can spiral you down a little bit,” Lenahan said. “To get it today and go 1-1 against PAC 12 and ACC opponents, that certainly helps our team.”

After recording three saves against UCLA on Friday and keeping the Bruins scoreless throughout regulation, Miskovic had an even better performance Sunday. In addition to his two diving stops against the Panthers, Miskovic finished with seven saves as well as an assist.

In the second minute, Miskovic sailed a free kick over the entire Pittsburgh defense, and sophomore midfielder Bardia Kimiavi chased the ball down in the box and put it past Alexander Steinbach into the bottom left corner for NU’s first goal of the season. That goal held for the Cats and gave them their first regular season win over a Power Five opponent since 2017.

“We have a great winning tradition, but in the last couple of years it’s been down a little bit,” Lenahan said. “Hopefully this game gives the boost of where Northwestern soccer has been and where it will be again.”

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @2021_Charlie