As a luminescent, orange-tinted moon hung over a serene Martin Stadium on Tuesday evening, Northwestern broke through the gravitational force that seemed to quell its endless stream of attacks in last week’s 1-0 defeat to Washington.
Facing Evansville in their first match since that frustrating affair, the Wildcats (6-4-1, 1-3-0 Big Ten) found little attacking joy, but did the one thing coach Russell Payne had been begging for: put the ball in the back of the net.
Despite fashioning far fewer opportunities than in past matches, NU only needed one chance. Junior forward Peter Riesz’s 28th-minute strike was enough to put the ’Cats over the top.
From there, it was a display of resolute defending that saw out the victory for Payne’s side, snapping the Aces’ (4-3-5, 2-0-0 MVC) six-match unbeaten streak.
“I think they were just a little bit anxious with the ball tonight a few times,” Payne said. “But otherwise, our energy was good. Our commitment was great. We’re ready for the weekend.”
The opening 25 minutes offered little in the way of goalmouth action for either side, with only Evansville managing a lone shot on target — a tame effort comfortably gathered by senior goalkeeper Rafael Ponce de León.
But, as NU struggled to puncture the Aces’ stout defense, it summoned a goal from thin air.
Junior midfielder Baraka Tarleton — a transfer from Evansville — came back to bite the hand that once fed him, pouncing on a loose touch in the penalty area and poking it into Riesz’s path. Reisz hit it first time, placing a right-footed effort precisely into the bottom left corner to put NU ahead.
“Man, it was surreal, you know, playing with those guys for two years,” Tarleton said. “It’s kind of weird playing against them in an actual game.”
As Reisz scored his fourth goal of the season, he repaid Payne’s faith in him; Payne had reinserted him into the starting lineup after dropping him to the bench for the previous three matches.
Payne said he and Reisz had a discussion the day before about the Wildcat frontman’s development since his freshman year.
“He’s definitely mentally and physically tougher and more mature,” Payne said. “And I think the goal tonight showed that.”
Evansville threatened to equalize in the 43rd minute when midfielder Álvaro Timón’s long-distance strike was headed clear by junior right back Bryant Mayer as it twisted toward the top left corner.
If the first half could generously be described as cagey, the second half was a full-blown war of attrition. The ’Cats stayed compact in midfield, stymying the visitors’ passing moves, but presenting little threat of their own on the counter-attack.
NU failed to muster a single shot after the interval. Neither side produced a shot on target.
In the 82nd minute, Aces forward Andres Escudero raced into the penalty area and went to ground under a tackle from senior center back Nigel Prince, triggering a video review. After the referee examined his monitor, he upheld his initial decision of no penalty.
With the final whistle blown, the ’Cats had gathered some much-needed momentum as they prepare to resume Big Ten play on Saturday against Michigan State.
“We’ve had some not-so-lucky bounces… we’ve had a couple performances where we wish we could do something different,” Prince said. “It’s a great performance, a good game to recalibrate, get back to the basics, get back to the foundations.”
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