Donned in white jerseys with pink lettering, No. 1 Northwestern hosted Penn State for this year’s “Pink Out” game. Fans, players and staff gathered to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Friday evening at Lakeside Field.
The Wildcats (11-0, 3-0 Big Ten) marked the occasion by shutting out the Nittany Lions (5-7, 1-4 Big Ten) 4-0 to remain undefeated on the season. NU has won its last four matches against Penn State.
The ’Cats got out to a hot start, attempting two shots and two penalty corners in the first three minutes. Midway through the first quarter, junior forward Piper Borz ran toward the back line, dishing out a pass to junior forward Ashley Sessa in the middle of the field. Sessa maneuvered past her defender and fired a shot into the top right corner of the goal.
Over the next few minutes, Penn State attempted its first two shots of the game but was unable to score. After the second shot, NU began a counterattack, with graduate student midfielder Maddie Zimmer leading the charge into the offensive zone. She pulled three defenders toward her, leaving Sessa wide open.
The Nittany Lion goalkeeper approached her, but Sessa slapped the ball over her head and into the back of the net. This was the third game of the season in which Sessa scored two goals.
As the quarter wound down, Penn State attempted another shot, but it was saved by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Juliana Boon. The ’Cats held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was relatively uneventful. NU outshot the Nittany Lions 3-2 and took two penalty corners, but the contest went into the half with the ’Cats still on top 2-0.
In the third quarter, NU looked to expand its lead. Just four minutes in, Zimmer controlled the ball around the edge of the shooting circle, firing a long shot past the goalkeeper. The ’Cats outshot Penn State 3-1 for the rest of the quarter, and they held onto their 3-0 lead.
NU remained dominant in the fourth quarter, producing 12 shots to the Nittany Lions’ one. With just under six minutes left to play, junior defender Ilse Tromp attempted a shot that deflected off a Penn State defender. Graduate student Grace Schulze rebounded the deflected ball and knocked it in for the ’Cats’ fourth goal of the game.
Each team took one shot in the final minutes, and the contest came to a close with NU claiming a 4-0 victory.
Coming into the weekend, Sessa ranked third in the nation in assists per game with 1.44. Tromp, last week’s NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week, logged her sixth straight game with at least one point.
Zimmer notched her second game with at least one goal and one assist. Schulze scored her seventh goal of the season, and Boon tallied her eighth shutout of the season. Her three goals allowed are the fewest by a goalkeeper in the nation.
The ’Cats look to keep up the momentum heading into their final nonconference game of the season, a marquee matchup against No. 8 Princeton on Monday.
Email: jonahmcclure2028@u.northwestern.edu
X: @jemccl125
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