As Northwestern stepped onto the pitch for its regular season finale against Penn State on Sunday, an eerie backdrop greeted coach Russell Payne’s squad at Martin Stadium.
The temporary facility’s two video boards were dismantled with the conclusion of the football season’s 2024 lakeside slate. Left in their wake, a ragged purple tarp swayed in the crisp November wind, encapsulating a once promising soccer season’s untimely turn.
Payne’s program — which experienced its first-ever 4-0 start in non conference play — was eliminated from Big Ten tournament contention with a 6-1 defeat at No. 16 Indiana on Tuesday. The team’s hopes of a first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014 appear slim, with an at-large bid its only hope of extending the season.
“We didn’t help ourselves earlier in the season, and it caught up with us,” Payne said. “All you can do is learn from that. I still think this is a championship level team, and it’s up to me, the staff and the returning guys to get us here next year.”
But five days after a five-goal drubbing torpedoed the Wildcats’ (9-7-1, 3-6-1 Big Ten) conference tournament hopes, they turned in their most dominant performance this season and dismantled the Nittany Lions (5-9-2, 2-6-2 Big Ten) 4-1.
Redshirt senior forward Akinjide Awujo scored his first career hat trick in the victory. His performance marked the lone three-goal output from any scorer in Big Ten play this season.
“I think you finally saw why we brought Jide here,” Payne said with a chuckle. “That was the performance that he and all of us knew he was capable of, so I’m happy he went off on a strong note with that.”
A player who missed his entire 2023 season at Villanova due to a preseason knee injury, Awujo failed to find the scoresheet in his first 10 games at NU. With his Sunday scoring frenzy, Awujo capped the regular season as the ’Cats’ leading marksman with five goals.
Awujo said the team’s goalscoring success took root on the training ground.
“We just had our creative juices flowing,” Awujo said. “We weren’t afraid to make mistakes. I feel like a lot of times when pressure isn’t really there anymore, that’s when you play your best games. We showed that today.”
NU opened the scoring in the match’s 15th minute when graduate student defender Brandon Clagette whipped in a cross toward senior midfielder Paul Son. Separating from his defender on the back post, Son headed home his first goal since Aug. 22’s season opener against Green Bay.
Payne, who took over at the program’s helm when Son joined the team as a freshman in 2021, said he was thrilled to see Son make a significant impact in his potential final collegiate action.
“He was pretty much injured the first two years he was here,” Payne said. “This was his best ever season and his healthiest season. He deserved it.”
Son’s sensational swan song continued as the game approached the half-hour mark. The senior played Awujo on a squared set-up, and the forward doubled the hosts’ lead.
For Son, a goal and an assist marked a dream send-off to a college career that began four years ago in Martin Stadium.
“All the memories are just flowing in, making me a bit emotional,” Son said, tearing up. “I’ve had injuries. I’ve had seasons where I just had low confidence and wasn’t playing my game. To end on a higher note, where I’m a bit more healthy, playing more of my game, means the world to me.”
In the 60th minute, Awujo bagged his brace with an outside-the-box effort off freshman defender Luke Shreiner’s feed. While Penn State midfielder Malick Daouda cut into the ’Cats’ lead with a long-range effort 13 minutes later, Awujo needed just 52 seconds to respond and secure his hat trick.
Payne made a flurry of substitutions in the ensuing minutes, including graduate student center back and captain Reese Mayer, who shared a sideline embrace with Payne at the potential bookend of his six-year collegiate career.
An emotional whirlwind struck NU once the final whistle sounded, with hugs, tears and a sense of finality setting in upon Payne’s extended postgame address.
“I wanted to send them off with even better,” Payne said. “They’re responsible for the send-off. I told them in the locker room today, ‘I just want to be inspired by you guys. This is your game today. This is all about you.’”
The ’Cats secured their first back-to-back winning records since 2013 and 2014 with the victory, a figure Payne deemed a sign the program is building something special.
Payne added that every team that lines up against NU now knows it’s facing a stern challenge, which he deemed a testament to his departing veterans.
“They’ve helped us establish what you’re seeing now, which is a team capable of winning anything,” Payne said. That wasn’t the case four years ago. But I think every team we play against knows that we’re contenders, and now we have to keep building on it.”
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