Men’s Soccer

Sean Lynch is like a wind-up toy that’s always on. His teammates say he brings the most energy to practice –– sometimes so much that his coaches have to tell him to dial it down. Lynch says he hates those days.

Coach Tim Lenahan has watched the senior midfielder practice like the season was on the line for four years now, but his two-season spot in the starting lineup has been taken by more highly recruited underclassmen. Then, two injuries to starting defenders bumped Lynch up in the rotation for Sunday’s 2-0 win against Rutgers, which gave Northwestern’s (6-7-1, 2-3-1 Big Ten) game Friday against Michigan State (3-8-3, 3-1-1) major conference tournament implications.

Lynch performed so well Sunday that before Lenahan ended his postgame media availability, the coach went out of his way to praise what he saw from the senior on the field.

“Sean Lynch was terrific,” Lenahan said “As a senior who’s been in and out of the lineup, he stepped up in big games and played really well.”

Lynch was only in six games his freshman year because the coaches told him he wasn’t a good enough decision-maker with the ball. He’s still working on that, and some games he makes better choices than others. Lynch totaled 65 minutes Sunday, but he’s had two Big Ten games with fewer than 30. Sophomore midfielder Richie Bennett and freshman midfielder Logan Weaver took minutes away from Lynch and have as many minutes as anyone on the roster.

Even though his minutes have fluctuated during the season, Lynch is still the same presence in practice. He presses up on the person with the ball even when the coaches don’t ask him to, putting on the equivalent of a full-court defense. When the team scrimmages, Lynch is known to be extremely physical.

It’s the only way he knows how to play, and that hasn’t changed since his freshman season. Back then, it was something Lynch did to stand out on the bottom of the depth chart. Now, he says he feels like he has enough credibility on the team to influence the way the rest of the group handles practice.

“Sometimes guys come in expecting to play more than they do, and then what happens when they don’t?” Lynch said. “I was all about bringing it every day, even if I wasn’t playing. Even if you’re not going to be the guy that’s starting every game or scoring goals, I learned that it was just about showing up the right way.”

It all paid off for Lynch on Sunday, as he connected multiple passes to attackers and helped the Wildcats move the ball up the field as well as they have all season. Lynch said he did a better job positioning himself around the Scarlet Knights’ defense than he’s done his entire career, and that led to him taking his first two shots of the season.

Heading into the two games that will determine whether NU accomplishes its goal of gaining home field advantage for the first round of the conference tournament, Lynch isn’t sure if he’ll keep this big of a role.

If the Cats win against the third-placed Spartans, they’ll jump to third place in the conference. But if NU loses, it’s much less likely that they earn a top-four seed. Even though this is as much pressure as anyone on the roster has faced, Lynch said he hasn’t changed his approach.

“I’m not just going to sit guys down and walk them through what to do,” he said. “But the energy I always bring is something I’ve been able to rub off a little bit.”

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Twitter: @2021_Charlie