Northwestern’s hopes for bringing home a Big Ten Championship came crashing down Thursday, following an edge-of-the-seat shootout loss to No. 2 Michigan in the conference quarterfinals.

After two overtimes ended with a 2-2 tie, the Wildcats (14-5, 5-3 Big Ten) and Wolverines (14-3, 5-3) headed into shootouts to determine the team advancing to the Big Ten Semifinals. Despite a successful shot from redshirt junior Bente Baekers, four other players missed, crowning Michigan victorious.

From tipoff, the battle between the two teams was intense. The Wolverines scored early in the first period for a premature lead, but NU responded with a goal of its own by graduate student forward Clara Roth to even the match before halftime. Similar to the Cats’ regular season contest, the squad was ready to leave it all on the field against the Wolverines.

Heading into the second half, the Cats dealt with a tumultuous third period when Michigan midfielder Sofia Southam sent the ball right past sophomore goalkeeper Annabel Skubisz in the 41st minute. NU was unable to even the score before the third period closed. Instead, sophomore midfielder Maddie Zimmer was issued a green card, leaving the Cats down a player for the start of the fourth quarter.

However, the player-down disadvantage stood no problem for the squad. The group went on to tie the score, for the second time in the game, with a goal from senior midfielder Maren Seidel, sending the matchup into overtime.

Just like the Oct. 8 showdown, NU held off Michigan for the first overtime to go straight into another round of overtime, with a chance to end the game.

But, the double overtime ended with the two competitors still tied at 2-2, pushing to the shootouts. Both teams selected a handful of players to take the stroke-offs at the cage for the final stand in the quarterfinals.

Skubisz couldn’t ward off the Wolverines, ending NU’s Big Ten Tournament run. The Cats will have to wait until later this month to find out if they will receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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