Coach Michael Moynihan is no stranger to playing on the field now named after his late mother, Laura.
Northwestern’s second tie of the year — a 2-2 Thursday night draw at Wisconsin-Milwaukee — was a homecoming match for its longtime coach. Prior to taking the reins in Evanston for his first season in 2012, Moynihan spent 15 years leading his team’s most recent foe, succeeding both his mother and sister.
Before their tie with the Panthers (1-3-1, 0-0 Horizon League), the Wildcats (2-1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) hadn’t scored in a contest’s opening 10 minutes since they kicked off their 2024 season at Boston University. Over the past two seasons, they have scored in the first half of just six of 24 total games.
On Thursday though, if an NU fan had opted to grab a snack or use the restroom before settling in to watch the team’s fifth game of the year, they would have missed the visitors’ first score in what became an action-packed opening period.
Less than 90 seconds into the game, sophomore forward Kennedy Roesch’s pass was deflected out of bounds by a Milwaukee defender and it became the inciting incident that allowed the ’Cats to claim an early lead.
Junior defender Maddie Finnerty threw the ball in to freshman forward Liz Cardwell, who nonchalantly dribbled it back to her. In turn, Finnerty launched a pass to sophomore forward Alex Fallon, standing in Milwaukee’s penalty box.
Fallon then lifted the ball from her right foot off her chest, and ripped a shot that easily got by the opposing goalkeeper to give NU the early 1-0 advantage.
At the tail-end of the game’s 18th minute, Cardwell recorded her second assist of the night.
Just beyond the midfield line, Cardwell surveyed her options and spotted freshman defender Gabby Anderson downfield.
The pass landed a step ahead of her target as Anderson hoped to evade a Panther defender looking to break up the play. In the midst of a full-fledged sprint, Anderson drilled a long-range shot that hit the back of the net for the first goal of her career.
2-0, NU.
Despite the visitors’ early lead, they couldn’t make it to intermission, or to the game’s conclusion, unscathed.
With less than two minutes to go until halftime, the Panthers scored a goal of their own. Despite the best efforts of senior defender Brooke Miller, who attempted to block the shot after freshman goalkeeper Nyamma Nelson abandoned her post in pursuit of the ball seconds prior, the hosts still managed to get on the board.
Following a quiet 20 minutes for both teams after the break, Milwaukee tied things up in the game’s 67th minute.
No one scored from there as the contest fizzled out in winless fashion.
Following their second consecutive draw, the ’Cats will next host Butler on Sunday afternoon for their final home match until Sept. 25.
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