ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When coach Tracey Fuchs took the Northwestern job in January 2009, she inherited a program that hadn’t made an NCAA tournament appearance in 15 seasons. Once perennial postseason fixtures, the Wildcats went 13 years without a winning record.

While Fuchs helped NU make immediate inroads with a 12-8 record in her inaugural season at the helm, the ’Cats didn’t make their first NCAA tournament under Fuchs until 2014. Three years later, her program won its first tournament game since  1994.

In a Cinderella-esque, unseeded run, Fuchs’ ’Cats scaled the collegiate field hockey summit in 2021, winning their first-ever national title on Michigan’s Phyllis Ocker Field. Three years later, NU prevailed 1-0 in its Final Four clash with UMass on that same surface, punching its ticket to a fourth consecutive national championship game.

Just minutes after achieving a feat no team had paralleled since North Carolina from 2009 to 2013, Fuchs made sure to deflect credit to the “team around the team.”

“It’s just a family,” Fuchs said. “I know everybody says that, but when you have such a supportive group behind you, it makes what you do easier. It makes my job easier as well. But shout out to my staff, (assistant coaches) Will (Byrne) and Georgia (Holland) for all the work they put in.”

The ’Cats presented a surprising success story in 2021, having never navigated beyond the postseason’s opening weekend under Fuchs prior to their trophy lift. But NU’s past three campaigns have merely marked continued excellence for a no-longer emerging powerhouse.

Lakeside Field has become a proverbial fortress in Evanston, with the ’Cats amassing a 29-3 record on their home turf during the past three seasons. 

But, perhaps even more impressive than the team’s nearly unblemished form at NU’s now-perennial NCAA tournament host site, Fuchs’ squad has made Final Four dominance in gutsy one-goal affairs its calling card.

Despite program legends like Bente Baekers and Alia Marshall graduating in successive seasons — and senior midfielder Maddie Zimmer taking off the 2023 season as she prepared for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games — the ’Cats have maintained their lofty program standard.

Every season, Fuchs unleashes newfound stars who burst onto the Big Ten and national scenes. Both through player development and the transfer portal, NU has fostered a culture of consistent excellence, where Fuchs’ squad proves far greater as a collective than the mere sum of its parts.

“The culture is in a really good place,” Fuchs told The Daily on Wednesday. “We talk about it on the field, off the field: the accountability, the unity, the relentlessness. I have really great leaders across the board, so when the first years come in, they’re immediately accepted.” 

This came to fruition Friday afternoon when the ’Cats were deadlocked in a 0-0 stalemate for nearly 50 minutes with the Minutewomen. Zimmer — an All-American midfielder who helped NU rewrite the school’s history books in the 2021 national title run — turned defense into instant offense and found sophomore forward Ashley Sessa in the shooting circle.

A transfer by way of North Carolina, Sessa struck pay dirt on her 24th goal of the season. In September, Sessa told The Daily she came to the ’Cats without any expectations. On Friday, she vaulted the program back to the promised land.

“It is such an honor to have walked into a team that is so welcoming — with such an awesome group of girls,” Sessa said. “Everyone has each other’s back. We are kind of like a close little family, but it’s just an honor to be back in the national championship.”

Come Sunday, NU will take on No. 4 Saint Joseph’s in Ann Arbor, back where Fuchs’ dynastic roots first sprouted. The Hawks knocked off previously undefeated No. 1 North Carolina 2-1 in Friday’s earlier tilt, and Fuchs said her side knows not to take the Atlantic 10 tournament champions lightly.

For many Wildcats, the game will mark their third or fourth national championship appearance. Zimmer said she expects her entire team to rise to meet the moment’s grand magnitude, regardless of their prior experience.

“The experience is really important for us, but I think that a lot of players that — even if they haven’t played in the championship game — just have that quality,” Zimmer said. “(It’s) that Northwestern Wildcat way of playing, and that is going to carry us through to be successful.”

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