Field Hockey: No. 2 Northwestern continues Big Ten rampage, defeating Rutgers and Penn State

The Wildcats are now on a 12-game winning streak.

After spending last week on the East Coast, No. 2 Northwestern field hockey returned to Evanston this past weekend to take on Rutgers and No. 17 Penn State at home. The Wildcats beat the Scarlet Knights 4-0 on Friday, before taking down the Nittany Lions 7-2 on Sunday.

Northwestern improves to a 12-0 record, recording the most wins out of any ranked team in the nation.

vs. Rutgers, October 4

The Wildcats’ match against Rutgers started slow, with the first half being scoreless between the two teams and neither team taking a single shot in the first half. Neither NU nor the Scarlet Knights could hold on to the ball very well, with the two teams trading possession multiple times.

“Rutgers is a tough team to play,” Northwestern head coach Tracey Fuchs said. “They’re physical. They’re good hockey players. They play a good defensive game.”

Most of the second quarter went similarly for Northwestern and Rutgers. But the Wildcats also had to weather the storm of four penalty corners from Rutgers to end the half, though none of them were successful.

Fuchs credited the defense of sophomore Oliva Bent-Cole for failing to let Rutgers capitalize on any penalty corner opportunities. On three of those corner chances, Bent-Cole was quick to pressure the Rutgers shooters, ensuring that they wouldn’t get open looks at the goal.

“Liv did a great job, and it just gets in the minds of the hitters on the other team,” Fuchs said. “They have to go around, they try to do it too quickly, and I just thought we defended really, really well. Defense has been a strength for us all season. So, really happy with our defense today.”

The second half was a whole other story for Northwestern. Just over five minutes into the third quarter, sophomore Ilse Trump received the ball off a penalty corner and flicked it into the goal — even getting the water on the field to come up along with the ball.

Once the first goal went in, the rest of the game was truly all Northwestern. In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were awarded two penalty strokes, both of which were converted by sophomore Ashley Sessa. On her second penalty stroke goal, she got the ball into the top right corner of the goal, making it nearly impossible for Howard to save.

“For me, it’s to not overthink it,” Sessa said of taking penalty strokes and her shot-making. “I always pick a spot before I go in practices — I love to practice on [Annabel Skubisz,] she’s one of the best at taking strokes.”

“I like to sometimes do some crafty stuff. I like to mix it up a lot, a lot of 3D in there, but even just getting the dirtiest balls — any touches matter.”

Although Sessa scored two straightforward goals right off penalties, she also scored later in the game with three minutes left. This time around, the Wildcats were facing an empty net (Howard left her position at the net with eight minutes left), and Sessa had just barely tipped in a shot initially made by Bent-Cole.

In the end, Northwestern won 4-0. Largely because of their offensive revival and increased aggressiveness to draw penalties in the second half, the Wildcats could completely overpower the Scarlet Knights even after a slow start.

“I think we came out strong in the second half. We really want to take our free hits quickly. So as soon as the whistle blows, you can go again. And when we do that, nobody can touch you for five yards,” Fuchs said. “So once we did that, we were able to get some numbers ahead of the ball and I thought we passed better and just had better elimination skills in the second half.”

vs. No. 17 Penn State, October 6

The start of Northwestern’s game against Penn State was completely different from that against Rutgers, as the Wildcats immediately took the lead en route to scoring four goals in the first quarter.

Seven minutes into the game, graduate student Chloe Relford scored her first goal of the season, receiving a pass from Tromp and diving to put the ball in the back of the net.

Three minutes later, graduate student Maddie Zimmer knocked in a goal of her own to make things 2-0. The scoring wouldn’t stop, as graduate student Lauren Wadas would score twice in one minute — the first goal was a shot from the goal circle, while Zimmer set her up to score the second one.

“It’s all credit to my teammates on the second [goal] — Maddie sent me a great crossball. And the first one, it was just off the corner,” Wadas said. “Just very lucky to be surrounded by great teammates and get it done today.”

Although Northwestern didn’t score in the second quarter, there were plenty of close calls — including a missed penalty stroke from Bent-Cole. The Wildcats still were able to stave off Penn State defensively, as the visitors did not take a single shot for the entire first half.

Sessa scored her 11th goal of the season to start the third quarter. However, Sophia Gladieux, the nation’s leading scorer and a fellow Olympian, could only be contained for so long — she took Penn State’s first shot of the game a minute into the quarter, which ended up being a goal.

Gladieux ended up pressuring Northwestern on multiple other instances in the third quarter, taking three more shots. She even had a penalty stroke opportunity at the end of the third, but Northwestern goalie Annabel Skubisz saved her shot.

Fuchs said that being an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team helped her become familiar with Gladieux and plan against her.

“We know she favors her backhand, and she was going to get a few shots and put one home,” Fuchs said. “But I’m really happy with the way our defense played as a unit and did a lot of double teaming so she couldn’t get too many opportunities.”

Also late into the third quarter, Bent-Cole went down following a collision and had to exit the game. She was later seen with crutches. Fuchs said after the game that Bent-Cole was being evaluated, and that she was unsure of the sophomore’s current status.

To begin the fourth quarter, NU extended its lead once more with a goal from Sessa and then one from senior Lane Herbert, who scored her first goal of the season. Gladieux got another goal when Northwestern began emptying its bench, but Penn State couldn’t do enough late to prevent the Wildcats from running away with a 7-2 win.

Northwestern will next face No. 9 Havard on October 13, giving the Wildcats a chance at their fourth top-ten win of the season.