Northwestern’s weekend at Kentucky is in the books, and it was rocky. In Louisville, the Wildcats nearly suffered a monumental upset at the hands of the Cardinals but pulled away with an overtime victory. They then followed up with their highest goal total of the season in a 5-1 win against Miami (Ohio). I wish I could see this offensive onslaught for myself, but unfortunately, there was no livestream for a NU field hockey game the second time this season.
Week one was simple. Week two was competitive.
And week three was a roller coaster in Kentucky.
Louisville, in hindsight, felt like a trap game. Although the Cardinals are 3-3 and coming off a 6-11 season, it was clear last Friday that the program was not to be underestimated.
Northwestern had considerably more chances than Louisville (more on that later), many of which were poorly executed on the front lines. Justine Sowry’s squad got a big break in the second quarter when the Wildcats couldn’t stop a clear, and Gigi Edwards maneuvered past a diving Juliana Boon (who stopped Louisville’s prior two shots) to take a shot the Northwestern backs couldn’t save.
And while I do think that giving up a goal for the first time was good for Boon to get the monkey off her back, it wasn’t what Northwestern needed in the moment, as it couldn’t push back for almost the entire rest of the game. Then, like it often does with NU sports programs, late-game heroics hit.
Northwestern had a much better showing against Miami, a team that is now out of the polls but had been ranked No. 20 at the time they played. Olivia Bent-Cole and Ashley Sessa came out of the floodgates just over five minutes into the match. It was the quickest that the Wildcats got on the board all year, and just their third goal of the season before the 25-minute mark. That set the tone for the rest of the match, as Ilse Tromp and Sessa again joined the party in a game where the team was averaging a goal every 12 minutes.
As head coach Tracey Fuchs said on Big Ten Network on Tuesday, Northwestern is not where she wants it to be yet. Despite the 6-0 record and 17-2 goal differential, the Louisville game showed why. Meanwhile, the Miami game was what I assume was a step closer to that ideal.
Overcoming Adversity
One of the biggest things that stood out to me was how well Northwestern played in the face of adversity. That especially showed against Louisville, where, after more than 57 minutes of the team’s messiest offensive showing in 2025, it locked in when the chips were down to deliver a victory.
Before Piper Borz notched the game-tying goal, Northwestern had not taken a shot all quarter after self-inflicted errors and a heroic effort from Louisville goalie Emily Young prevented chances earlier in the game. The ‘Cats pulled goalie Juliana Boon and were losing possession in the match’s waning minutes, as you could see Louisville’s squad slowing the pace down to play keep-away.
But the biggest blow was when a would-be goal from Grace Schulze was overturned because of an obstruction call on Bent-Cole with around four minutes left. After Northwestern struggled to get one behind the net all game, getting a goal taken away once it finally pulled through added salt to the wound. In fact, at the moment Schulze’s goal was overturned, I texted former Inside NU editor-in-chief and B1G+ regular Noah Coffman to say that I was convinced the ‘Cats weren’t coming back.
And yet, Northwestern proved me wrong just two minutes later with Borz’s goal, before taking full control in overtime to score the game-winner. After everything suggested that the Wildcats would walk away empty, they came out of last Friday as a winner.
This trend of bouncing back continued into the next game. It was displayed through the scoreline, but it also prevailed through the performance of Sessa.
After being sent off against Boston College and then missing the entirety of the Louisville game for that reason, Sessa didn’t play rusty versus the RedHawks. Instead, she contributed to all but one of Northwestern’s five goals, coming away with two goals and two assists for her first six-point game since Oct. 20, 2024.
With the Northwestern attack firing on all cylinders after enduring a difficult stretch, in addition to its single-season points record holder being in top form, it only bodes well for future weeks.
Chances, chances
Up until the Miami showing, the theme of many Northwestern games has been great opportunities that fall just short.
The game against Louisville was in NU’s stick almost the entire time. Aside from Edwards’ goal and the two shots that preceded it, the Cardinals did not take a single shot on goal and had only eight in total. Meanwhile, the Wildcats took 19 shots and had 11 on goal — only two were successful.
Penalty corners are something that Fuchs emphasized as well in her BTN interview. And while the situation improved against Miami, when Tromp converted on two, the ‘Cats are now just 4-for-46 (8%) in PC conversions. No. 7 Duke (7-for-25), No. 4 Syracuse (11-for-36) and No. 6 Liberty (8-for-25) — all ranked amongst Division I’s top 10 for penalty corner conversion rate as of Sept. 8, according to The Field Hockey Analyst — all have nearly double (or triple) the amount of penalty corner goals as Northwestern despite considerably fewer attempts.
Yes, PC conversion isn’t the only indicator of success. But I provided those numbers to contextualize exactly why Fuchs thinks corners are something that the team needs to work on.
It goes beyond shots and corners — it’s the fact that everything else has been set up so well for the team. The backs are the reason why opponents are averaging just 6.2 shots per game. Maddie Zimmer has made some incredible runs but just couldn’t find a good look against Louisville until overtime. Credit goes to Laura Salamanca, too, who I believe has emerged as Northwestern’s second-best midfielder and has also done her fair share of trying to set the offense up.
Miami was a different story. In that match, the Wildcats were 5-for-12 in shots on goal and 2-for-7 in penalty corners, much better percentages than their season average. They were generating a similar number of chances compared to previous games, but more were successful.
I bring this up not to be critical of Northwestern, but to emphasize how well this team is doing despite not firing on all cylinders just yet. Once it does, it will become clear that it is by far the best squad in the nation.
Weekly Awards
Player of the Week: Aerin Krys, senior forward
Sessa walks out of Louisville with the best stat line of the weekend, but Northwestern does not keep its undefeated streak alive without Krys’ play. When the chips were down and Louisville had all the momentum after the Wildcats’ overturned goal, she maneuvered past three defenders on the backline to find Borz for the game-tying goal. Her ability to move and pass in tight spaces is unmatched, and it helped Northwestern win the game. She later backed up her play with two more assists against the RedHawks — leading the whole team for the weekend.
Play of the Week: Props to Zimmer and Bent-Cole for setting this one up, but can we talk about the tenacity from Schulze? The ball ricochets off Young, and the grad transfer dove past her to fight for the ball and push it into the net. Incredible effort.
Around the NCAA
- Friday was the day of overtime thrillers. Four other matchups involving ranked teams that day saw extra hockey (Princeton-Syracuse, Rutgers-UConn, Boston College-Massachusetts, Harvard-Ohio State), including two with multiple overtime periods.
- After moving up to No. 4 in the polls last week, the now-No. 13 Boston College was taken down by in-state rivals, falling to No. 12 UMass 2-1 in a penalty shootout and then to an unranked Boston University 1-0.
- After scaring Northwestern, Louisville then proceeded to fall 5-1 to No. 11 Iowa two days later. Take that information as you wish.
- The biggest top-10 matchup this past weekend was between No. 2 North Carolina and No. 6 Liberty, which the Tar Heels won 3-1. Erin Matson continues to flip-flop between goalies at halftime.
What’s Next?
The Wildcats next will travel to where I spent this past summer: Newark, Delaware, to play the Fightin’ Blue Hens on Friday at 3 p.m. CT. UD faces an uphill battle amid conference realignment and a new coaching staff — it has yet to beat a power conference opponent in 2025. On Sept. 21 at 11 a.m., Northwestern then goes up I-95 to play at Villanova, located in the Philadelphia field hockey hotbed from which so many of the team’s stars hail. NU will be heavily favored in this Wildcat-on-Wildcat matchup, as its opponent is 1-4 to start the season with just a single win against another 1-4 team, La Salle.
