DURHAM, N.C. — Listen to head coach Tracey Fuchs and midfielder Maddie Zimmer speak postgame after Northwestern field hockey’s 2025 NCAA championship, and it’s obvious that the victory is different from the rest.
Those two were at the podium just a year ago in Ann Arbor, when the Wildcats captured their second of now-three titles. They were also part of the Northwestern 2021 team, which went on a Cinderella run to win its first championship. And while both those titles were distinct in their own way,
there’s just something about NU’s 2-1 double-overtime win over Princeton that stands out above others.
“This is definitely the most emotional I’ve been,” Zimmer said. “Part of it is that my time in Northwestern is coming to an end, but we were unseeded coming into this tournament. We were the underdogs, and we had that chip on our shoulder. Being able to have that edge and take that into each game that we were playing, we wanted it even more.”
Of course, the obvious narrative was Northwestern’s unseeded status coming into the NCAA Tournament, forcing it to be “road warriors” and not host a regional — despite having an 18-1 record and a consistent top-two ranking in the NFHCA Coaches’ Poll. Murmurs of that perceived snub were heard even throughout the Final Four weekend in Durham, especially among those crowded by the Northwestern tailgate.
But it goes beyond that. Northwestern came into 2025 returning much of its talent from the previous season, but still lost longtime veterans like Lauren Wadas and Annabel Skubisz. After winning it all the year before, doing it once more would be harder, with the entire nation placing a target on NU’s back.
The Wildcats responded to that pressure and expectation by beating everyone on its schedule, sweeping the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. Despite avoiding No. 4 Virginia at home, it endured arguably its most difficult NCAA tournament draw in all of its title journeys, facing No. 1-seeded North Carolina and No. 2 Princeton in back-to-back games.
The former beat Northwestern in back-to-back NCAA championship games, while the latter was the only team to defeat it this season. Against both teams, NU trailed going into the fourth quarter and forced overtime, coming out victorious to clinch back-to-back titles for the first time in program history.
Propelled by a graduating class that includes the likes of Zimmer, as well as fellow captains Greta Hinke and Aerin Krys, Fuchs knows that her 2025 team is special.
“You have teams where you have really good people, but this team is right up there with some of the best people and role players I’ve ever had,” Fuchs said. “When you have that kind of culture where you have players that want to do whatever it takes to win, good things happen.”
Defeating Princeton in the national title game was the final, strenuous hurdle toward a full-circle season, one that was a stalemate for three quarters before Tiger midfielder Beth Yeager found the net to put her team up 1-0. The ‘Cats held the Tigers to just one shot outside of the third quarter, and it seemed then as if NU was headed toward a frustrating loss: dominating possession, but failing to get the job done.
That wasn’t the case.
“We were trying to get those corners in, get those shots on goal. It was going to fall for us at some point,” Zimmer said. “Just really proud of the way that we stuck with it. Never gave up. We’re kind of used to coming from behind, so I don’t think that deterred us at all.”
Eventually, the tide turned with penalty corners — after failing on its first seven tries, Northwestern finally broke through on its eighth. Ilse Tromp first hit a rocket before Kate Janssen swooped in for the fourth-quarter equalizer. Nearly 20 minutes later in double-overtime, Tromp did it herself for the game-winner, and pandemonium followed.
Don’t get it wrong. With a goal, a critical assist and several defensive stops on a lethal Princeton transition offense, Tromp was Northwestern’s X-factor on Sunday. But perhaps in fitting fashion, as someone who Fuchs says “doesn’t care who gets the credit,” Tromp’s mind was on Zimmer when she shot the game-winning goal.
“People were saying, it’s considered a dynasty right now. For Zim, I think she kind of all started (it),” Tromp said. “I didn’t want to say it beforehand, but I really wanted for her to end her career at Northwestern winning a national championship. I’m so happy we could.”
It wasn’t addressed much in the media through the tournament, but the elephant in the room was that a player so important to Northwestern’s program took her final rodeo as a Wildcat this past weekend. And if this wasn’t talked about enough before the ‘Cats won, the team sure made a point of it afterward.
Zimmer was the first one to hold the championship trophy following the awards ceremony. The Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player for the third time, she choked up when asked about finishing her college career on top.
“This program means so much to me,” Zimmer said, through tears. “And this time, this is by far the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey, and it all just comes down to my teammates who are next to me and the work they’re doing for each other.”
As Northwestern’s then-highest-ranked recruit ever, Zimmer committed to the Wildcats when they were amidst a 26-year Final Four drought. As a natural introvert, she struggled to find a fit at other programs, but Northwestern won her over because it saw her as a person beyond her star power. The program’s understanding of Zimmer paid off, as she led it to its greatest heights while winning a litany of national awards in the process.
Seven years after Fuchs jumped so high her head hit nearly the ceiling while celebrating Zimmer’s commitment to NU, the coach implored reporters to stop asking about No. 8 postgame or else she was “not going to make it through.” After five seasons as a Northwestern program-changer, the fact that Zimmer’s final chapter concluded with a title is perhaps even more full-circle than the narratives surrounding the team’s season.
“Maddie will go down as the best player in our history, and probably, in my opinion, Northwestern athletics overall,” Fuchs said. “She’ll be right up there in the top one or two athletes that have ever come through Northwestern, and couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Northwestern has won two titles in the past, and surely there will be more coming its way under Fuchs’ helm. But the Wildcats’ 2025 championship will always be remembered as a storybook ending to a narrative-driven season, and the historic NCAA career of their greatest player ever.
