The Wildcats are back in a familiar place.
For the fourth consecutive year, Northwestern is back in the Final Four.
Despite facing a 0-1 deficit at halftime, the Wildcats defeated Virginia 3-2 in a game that went to overtime. The decider ended up being a Lauren Wadas goal off a penalty corner two minutes into overtime. Ashley Sessa and Elaine Velthuizen both scored as well, while Northwestern goalie Annabel Skubisz made two saves.
For Virginia, Suze Leemans and Dani Mendez-Trendler scored goals, and goalie Nilou Lempers made five saves. The Cavaliers were outshot 13-6 and tallied just three corners, whereas the Wildcats earned nine penalty corners over the course of the game.
Northwestern got the game’s first scoring opportunity, drawing a penalty corner with 12:59 left in the first. However, Ilse Tromp’s shot was blocked by the Virginia defense. The ball went back and forth mostly on Virginia’s side of the field for about eight minutes, until Velthuizen found an opening to shoot. However, the ball was saved by Virginia goalie Nilou Lempers.
With around a minute left in the quarter, Sessa tried finding Olivia Bent-Cole for another Northwestern opportunity, but Virginia intercepted her pass. At the end of the first quarter, the score was tied 0-0 with the Wildcats outshooting the Cavaliers 2-0.
Bent-Cole reached the goal circle on the first possession of the second quarter, but her ball was picked off. Three minutes later, Sessa collided with Velthuizen to draw a second penalty corner for the Wildcats. Greta Hinke hit a good ball that went up and nearly in the back of the cage, but Virginia’s Suze Leemans got in the way and stopped it from going in.
Northwestern received another corner shortly afterward, with Lauren Hunter taking the shot, This time, Lempers dropped into a split to save Hunter’s shot. On the next possession, Virginia had an open look at the goal, but Hinke made a huge tackle to get the ball away from the Cavaliers.
Virginia’s Lauren Kenah took her team’s first shot of the game with around 90 seconds left in the game, but NU goalie Annabel Skubisz was there to save it. The Wildcats weren’t so lucky on the next possession, as UVA was awarded a penalty corner, which Leemans scored off of. At halftime, the Cavaliers were up 1-0 on the Wildcats. Northwestern trailed despite tallying two more shots and two more penalty corners. The Wildcats simply couldn’t convert on their first-half opportunities. Luckily, the second half was a different story.
Just 90 seconds into the third quarter, Northwestern fired back. Sessa intercepted a Virginia pass with her stick and got the ball to Katie Jones, who then passed it to Velthuizen. Velthuizen tipped the ball into the net, tying the game up.
Three minutes later, the Wildcats drew a penalty corner, where Maddie Zimmer’s shot went wide. Virginia got its first shooting opportunity in the second half with about six minutes left in the third by virtue of Taryn Tkachuk, but the Northwestern defense deflected the ball. The ball quickly made it to the other side of the field and Sessa nearly scored another goal off a 45-degree shot, but Lempers saved the ball with her foot.
With 4:28 left in the third, Virginia’s Noa Boterman received a green card after running into Sessa, rendering Northwestern a player-up opportunity. The Wildcats then got a penalty corner opportunity, where Hinke hit a ball that was tipped into the goal by Sessa, giving Northwestern a 2-1 lead.
After three minutes, NU got another penalty corner, but this time Tromp shot a ball that went high. To end the quarter, Virginia’s Jans Croon took a shot off a penalty corner, but her attempt to tie the game failed as her shot got blocked.
The fourth quarter began with UVA drawing a penalty corner, and Dani Mendez-Trendler scored to tie the game up 2-2. With around 11 minutes left, a green card was issued to the Northwestern bench as tempers began to flare.
Sessa shot a ball that went way wide around a minute later, but the ball mostly stayed the Northwestern afterward. With 7:12 left in the game, Bent-Cole found a loose ball brought to her by Chloe Relford and scored a behind-the-back goal for the Wildcats. However, after a review, the goal was deemed no good.
With 4:42 left, Suze Leemans tripped over Sessa, resulting in the Cavalier getting a yellow card. However, green cards were then issued to Katie Jones, as well as Virginia’s Dani Mendez-Trendler, so both teams were playing shorthanded for the stretch. Zimmer then drew a corner for the Wildcats, but Tromp once again couldn’t convert with her shot going left. Neither team could find the goal in the waning minutes of the game, which ended up going into sudden-death overtime.
To begin overtime, the Wildcats drew a penalty corner and their shot rolled past the goalpost. The ball made it across the field, but Tromp stopped a potential Virginia opportunity. A corner came again for Northwestern two minutes later and this time it was successful — Wadas scored the game-winning goal to send the Wildcats to their fourth consecutive Final Four.
Northwestern will face Massachusetts in the NCAA semifinals on Friday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.