Women’s Soccer: A promising start but tough finish against Illinois

Northwestern women’s soccer ends its season with a sour taste in its mouth against the in-state rival Fighting Illini.

Having won just one game in its 12 previous matches, Northwestern women’s soccer was desperate for a victory to end its year against big-time rival Illinois. After a solid start to their year — the Wildcats won five of their first seven matches — head coach Michael Moynihan’s squad completely fell apart once it entered conference play, going just 1-8-2 in that two-month stretch.

The ‘Cats got off to a hot start, almost immediately putting pressure on the Illini defense with a shot by 5th-year defender Nicole Doucette in the 7th minute. Just 15 seconds later, the Wildcats would be back on the attack again, and, this time, they didn’t squander their chance: a nice run to the corner put midfielder Josie Aulicino in great position to cross the ball into the box. She hammered one to the far side of the post towards Alex Fallon, who scuffled with a couple of Illinois defenders before tapping it back to the middle of the box, where first-year Kate Hennen was ready and waiting for a right-place, right-time shot, which she placed perfectly around the goalkeeper for Northwestern’s first goal of the match and her first goal in a Wildcats uniform.

Northwestern rode that wave of momentum for the next 10 minutes or so, completely dominating. They notched three shots, two of which were on goal, while not giving up a single shot on the defensive side.

Things stayed mostly in Northwestern’s favor for much of the rest of the first half, and Illinois found itself on the defensive side and unable to get much going. Illini head coach Janet Rayfield opted to change things up, making five substitutions over the course of seven minutes and throwing new looks at the Wildcats.

It didn’t take long for those substitutions to take effect. Just one minute after the fifth substitution senior midfielder Alyssa Weede tied things up with a big shot in the 37th minute with help from an assist via Emma Yee, who had just narrowly missed a shot off the right woodwork not 20 seconds earlier.

An exciting first half came to an end all knotted up at one, with both teams in it to grab a victory over their rival.

Another surge of substitutions opened up the second period, with both sides making a total of 12 subs. Illinois would be the ones getting off to a quick start in this half, getting a corner kick early on and controlling a majority of possession in the first few minutes. The Fighting Illini successfully capitalized on this momentum shift, netting a goal by way of forward Sarah Foley in the 51st minute, breaking the tie.

With Illinois now up 2-1, Northwestern was desperate to get back in it, but just couldn’t get much going. It looked promising, though, when Caterina Regazzoni narrowly missed a shot over the top of the post in the 61st minute, and just a couple minutes later Kennedy Roesch kicked one right into the hands of Illini goalie Izzy Lee, shifting momentum back to the purple and white.

All that offensive strength was completely deflated, however, when Illinois put another huge goal into the back of the net, this time on a solo goal by Yee, who had already notched an assist. With the Illini up 3-1 in the 65th minute, it seemed that hopes to snatch one last win on the season were futile.

Northwestern had their go at getting back within striking distance, managing a shot by Doucette that went wide right, followed not long after by a shot-on-goal by Emma Phillips that just wouldn’t get past Lee.

Illinois only added insult to injury, grabbing a fourth goal on a Northwestern own-goal to safely put away the game in the 77th minute. It was all Illini from there on out, and the ‘Cats eventually fell on the final whistle, losing 4-1.

Northwestern ends its season 15th in the Big Ten table, managing five points on the year; it finishes 6-10-3 overall, and 1-8-2 in conference play.