Despite suffering two losses last week, the Wildcats rebounded against Ohio State on Sunday to close out the regular season with sole possession of second place in Big Ten standings.

In a fight for the conference’s second seed, No. 13 Northwestern (13-3-2, 7-2-1 Big Ten) secured its eighth shutout of the year against No. 17 Ohio State (10-4-3, 5-3-2 Big Ten), winning 2-0.

Scoring began in the 16th minute on the Cats’ only corner kick of the first half.

Junior midfielder Josie Aulicino launched a perfectly placed cross over a crowd of players to sophomore defender Emma Phillips, who was waiting on the far side and calmly headed the ball in. This marked Aulicino’s eighth assist — ranking highest on the team and tying for first in the Big Ten.

Less than three minutes later, NU scored its second goal of the match when senior forward Aurea del Carmen played a through ball to junior forward Meg Boade who buried a right-foot finish past the keeper.

The second half saw things get chippy between the two teams with frustration growing on the Buckeyes’ side. They ended with 14 fouls to the Cats’ six, including 10 fouls in the second half.

With the victory, NU concluded the regular season having allowed the second-fewest goals and scoring the third-most goals in the conference.

The Cats looked like their normal selves with impressive play from both sides of the ball, helping to dispel any doubts about their recent conference losses entering post-season play.

With only the conference’s top eight teams qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament, NU will enter at No. 2 — 10 spots better than last year’s 12th-place finish.

As the higher seed, the Cats will host seventh seed Rutgers at home Oct. 30.

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