Across Northwestern Lacrosse’s five seasons between 2021 and 2025, the program lost just two games at Ryan Fieldhouse. Barring a few hiccups against the likes of Boston College and North Carolina, the ‘Cats were an unstoppable force in Evanston — a label that, in 2026, seems to have shifted.
Already this year, Northwestern (5-3, 0-1 B1G) has lost three games at home, and its losing streak that started against now-No. 6 Syracuse on Thursday extended with a 16-15 loss to unranked Ohio State (6-2, 1-0
B1G) on Sunday.
The statistics better describe Ohio State’s performance than Northwestern’s: the Wildcats shot 35 times with 27 on target, while each of Ohio State’s 22 shots were shots on target. Second-half heroics by the Buckeyes’ goalkeeper Jocelyn Torres pushed their save figure up to 12, in comparison to the ‘Cats’ six. Madison Taylor scored seven for Northwestern, while Kate Tyack had six for the Buckeyes.
But the Wildcats’ performance on Sunday — in which normally-formidable attackers like Olivia Adamson and Aditi Foster looked feeble against a vicious Buckeyes’ defense — showed the world that Northwestern can no longer take matches for granted. The ‘Cats were not convincing in the draw circle, which is an area unusual for them to struggle in. They also grappled with shooting on target and had a hard time tracking their marks on defense.
The signs of Northwestern’s demise came right out the gate, as Ohio State’s Kampbell Stone won the first draw of the game. Less than 15 seconds later, Northwestern first-year Kate Ratanaproeksa picked up a yellow card after hitting a Buckeye on the head with her stick and headed to the box.
With Ratanaproeksa out of the picture, two Buckeyes cornered Taylor on the sideline, forced a turnover and transitioned into the attack. A smooth cross-field passing sequence from Camryn Gallagher and Zoe Coleman found Kate Tyack, who emphatically buried the ball past Jenika Cuocco.
The Buckeyes’ early breakthrough knocked Northwestern off-balance. Just three minutes after Tyack’s initial goal, Annie Hargrave doubled Ohio State’s lead after exploiting a hole in Northwestern’s zone defense. Madison Taylor picked up the pieces for the ‘Cats to make the score to 2-1 a minute later.
But after the media timeout, the Buckeyes came out blazing. Stone scored a free position goal, and Tyack pushed the score to 4-1 with an acrobatic quick-release shot comparable to an alley-oop. 40 seconds later, Tyack scored another to get a hat trick inside the first quarter.
Though Northwestern became increasingly frustrated by its shots not landing on frame, an eventual five-goal run by Taylor, Taylor Lapointe, Noel Cumberland, Aditi Foster and Lucy Munro gave the Wildcats the lead as they left the first quarter up 6-5.
Ohio State tied the score at 6 in the opening minute of the second quarter, but Taylor scored two goals off free positions and gave a shiftily assisted Taylor Lapointe, who fired a shot into the net from the eight-meter-arc to regain the lead for the ‘Cats. Olivia Adamson, who had struggled throughout the first quarter to put her shots on target, finally got a goal of her own on a free position.
But the Buckeyes clawed back into the fight. Camryn Callaghan caught Cuocco off guard with a free position shot to her weak side with 1:38 to go in the half. Ohio State was able to capitalize twice more during this short window: first, off a Tyack free position, and then from Hargrave, who capitalized on a turnover prompted by a draw control violation from Northwestern’s Madison Smith. The ‘Cats left the half up 10-9.
The third quarter saw the free position continue to reign, with Abby Locascio slinging a left-handed shot into the top right corner of the net from her post on the arc. With 11:18 to go in the quarter, Lucy Munro found a cutting Madison Taylor with a pristine pass, and Taylor fired it home to mark Northwestern’s first goal in open play in nearly 8 minutes.
Once again, though, Northwestern’s scoring gap was quashed by three Ohio State goals from Tyack, Callahan, and Zoe Coleman in three minutes to tie it at 12. It felt at times that all Cuocco and the Northwestern defense could do was watch the overwhelming Ohio State attack.
Ohio State goalkeeper Jocelyn Torres had a breakthrough fourth quarter: 6 of her 12 saves came in this last period, shutting out the likes of Foster and Taylor. Taylor found the back of the net once anyway, but two close-range goals from Maddy Paz and one from Tyack reconciled to give the Buckeyes the lead 15-14.
With two minutes to go, Taylor Lapointe appeared to be Northwestern’s saving grace as she sniped in a link-up pass from Taylor. But once the ‘Cats lost the draw control following Lapointe’s goal, it was all over: Ohio State’s Stone beat Ratanaproeksa to fire home a game-winning shot, and the Buckeyes walked away from Evanston with a 16-15 win.
With a loaded slate on the horizon, including matches against North Carolina and Johns Hopkins, the ‘Cats are now under extreme scrutiny. There’s no reason to say the team will continue their losing streak — after all, they exhibited remarkable poise after losing their home opener against Colorado — but it does beg the question: In an unprecedented time for Northwestern Lacrosse, will they continue to fight to maintain their records of the past?
For now, the ‘Cats will have to wait and see as they head west to play Oregon on Saturday, March 21, at 2 p.m. CT.
