When Northwestern tied Rutgers earlier this season, the Wildcats knew they were the better team.

“Our second half last game, we just completely dominated,” junior midfielder Josie Aulicino said. “Rutgers couldn’t even breathe trying to build out of the back.”

So when the Scarlet Knights –– the reigning Big Ten regular season champions –– were announced as NU’s opponent for the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Cats remained confident.

No. 20 Rutgers (13-4-2, 5-3-2 Big Ten) entered Sunday’s match as the seventh seed, but failed to pull off the upset as No. 12 NU (14-3-2, 7-2-1 Big Ten) stood its ground and won 2-1.

Seven minutes in, however, the game didn’t seem to be going the Cats’ way as the Scarlet Knights quickly put one on the board.

A well-placed through ball narrowly avoided two NU defenders and rolled right into the possession of Rutgers forward Riley Tiernan, who snuck the ball past graduate student keeper Mia Raben from a difficult angle.

“It was kind of like, ‘Well, what just happened and how are we going to respond?’” coach Michael Moynihan said. “And it was just a matter of feeling it out.”

After another dangerous Scarlet Knight possession, the Cats seemed in trouble, but senior midfielder Rowan Lapi turned the tables in spectacular fashion.

Receiving the ball from well outside the box, the captain sent a powerful, left-footed strike into the left side of the net. The Rutgers keeper got a slight touch on the ball but not enough to keep it out.

“I knew she was gonna hit it,” Aulicino said. “It was just one of those moments where I saw her take the touch, and she just looked up and she wanted it. It was like a change in mood.”

Lapi’s 21st-minute goal ignited an NU offense that tallied 17 shots total, including nine shots on goal.

Shortly following halftime, another long-range goal firmly put the Cats in the lead. This time, junior defender Nicole Doucette held the launch codes.

A few feet from the sideline, Doucette sent a cross into the box which bounced over two NU players and ended up in the far side of the net. Anticipating a touch from one of the two Cats, Scarlet Knight keeper Meagan McClelland failed to stop the ball after it continued on its original path.

Following the goal, focus then shifted onto NU’s defense, who were losing energy due to Rutgers’ three-forward formation. In response, the Cats moved to a four-back formation, which made it easier for them to contain the Rutgers offense.

“We had talked about it at halftime just because of the spacing,” Moynihan said. “It was a good call. I thought we really shut them down after that.”

The score remained 2-1 for the remainder of the game, propelling NU to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2017. The team will face sixth seed Penn State on Thursday.

The two teams last played each other in 2021, when the unranked Cats pulled off a 2-1 upset victory over the No. 12 Nittany Lions.

NU will look to build upon its two consecutive wins as it takes on Penn State.

“Getting the win against Ohio State was really good for us in building momentum back after two losses,” Lapi said. “Now that we got this one under our belt, especially coming back from behind, I think we have a lot of confidence moving forward.”

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Twitter: @lucaskim_15

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