Wow, we are into the double digits of this column’s existence! Thanks for sticking with me throughout this tumultuous season.
It felt as though USC, the fourth-from-bottom team in the Big Ten, pulled some sort of Trojan horse act on Saturday against Northwestern women’s soccer.
On their own senior day, the ‘Cats ultimately fell 3-0 to USC, looking frazzled and outplayed by their west-coast competition from start to finish.
Now, I could spend this column analyzing Northwestern’s third loss in a row to
Big Ten competition that, on paper, looks much worse than it actually was, but there are more important things to reflect on. To be more specific, I’m focusing on this year’s senior class, giving them the flowers that Saturday’s loss didn’t fully carve out for them.
The Wildcats are losing seven players, five of whom made a significant minutes impact on the field this year. Let’s take a look at their histories and work done for the Northwestern program.
Defenders
The ‘Cats are going to miss Maddie Finnerty a lot next year. A defender that has made a strong impact on the field since her sophomore year, Finnerty is easily one of the most put-together defenders on the team. She has single-handedly spearheaded many of the Wildcats’ shutouts and has worked well with Nyamma Nelson to ensure defensive success on the team.
Finnerty did not play significant minutes her freshman year, but made a huge leap her sophomore year to start and play in 18 games. Her junior year, she played 20 games, 19 of which were full 90-minute shifts.
One of the biggest hallmarks of Finnerty’s game is how composed she is. Northwestern’s three-back system is often difficult to master — especially when you have players newer to the collegiate level filling out the centerback spot — but Finnerty has taken her role as a right back in stride, always staying calm on the ball and being careful not to make rash decisions that will affect the team. For this trait alone the Wildcats will rue having her gone from their roster.
Another player that has had to compete under an extreme amount of pressure this year is backup goalie CJ Roy. Roy, who has logged minutes in five games across her college career, stepped up against some of the toughest opponents in the NCAA, like Duke in 2025 and Virginia in 2026, and had to play in some unexpected situations this year — like the Illinois State game when Nelson was sent off for a handball outside of the box.
Roy has a response to adversity that will serve her exceptionally well in life. And, as the program’s 2025 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree, Roy’s energy on and off the field is something the team will look to replicate next year.
Midfielders
Holland Carey is one of Northwestern’s most underrated players this year. Amid a string of injuries that has taken out players in front (Kennedy Roesch), behind (Keira Kemmerley) and next to her in the midfield (Ava Goodin), Carey has been a constant the Wildcats desperately needed.
Carey, hailing from Scottsdale, Arizona, has had a rather tumultuous career with Northwestern. She played in 14 games to kick off her time in purple and white as a first-year, before tallying 6% of the previous season’s minutes her sophomore year. Her junior season was cut short in early October 2025 due to injury, but her senior season has been extremely consistent.
Though Carey has scored two goals for the ‘Cats this year, her impact lies in the intangibles. She is a very smart player, always looking to make space on the flanks for her teammates to utilize (something that I personally enjoy watching), and her work rate on both sides of the ball is second to none.
It doesn’t hurt that she’s able to pull off some absolute bangers from her back pocket.
Presley Nevadomsky also deserves her flowers. Though she has yet to hit the field as a Wildcat — and I certainly hope her time will come in the twilight of conference play — she has made an impact off the field for Northwestern Athletics.
Nevadomsky, a statistics and data science double major at Northwestern, is a multiple-time Academic All-Big Ten Honoree as well as a multiple-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, which requires having earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades, in addition to full-time enrollment requirements.
Nevadomsky also was a 2025 recipient of the Immersion, Mentorship and Actualization Program (I-MAP) Award, an industry immersion program for a select group of Northwestern student-athletes.
Forwards
Northwestern’s forward line is going to have to undergo a massive revamp next year. Luckily, I think the ‘Cats have been doing some early work by tapping into Camryn Freeman and Alex Fallon’s partnership, but Keira Wagner, Megan Norkett, and Sarah O’Donnell have been key starters for this team this year.
Wagner is someone that has made a steady impact for the ‘Cats over the course of her Northwestern career. After having a slow start in her first year in Evanston, Wagner played in 30 games across her sophomore and junior years. As a senior, however, Wagner’s real value to the team has shown through her 16 starts in 16 games.
She is also an incredibly dynamic player. Her agility and speed is second to none, and she is incredibly technical on the ball, making her an exciting player to watch in one-on-one situations. Right now, there isn’t someone on Northwestern’s roster that can easily replicate that energy.
Norkett has also an intrinsic dynamic quality to her play style, though in a slightly different way.
As a winger, Norkett has taken on some important moments during her time at Northwestern, a fact that is demonstrated by her career 10 goals and eight assists. She has also made a consistent impact each year she has played, with 4,133 minutes evenly distributed across four years.
Without Kennedy Roesch, her right-hand man, for the bulk of this season, Norkett has had to make herself an individualized player. She has done so with a lot of poise, and she is very good at breaking through seemingly insurmountable obstacles on defense. Though the ‘Cats haven’t always found a way to meet the end of her crosses into the box, she remains a shot creator.
She’s also a clutch player. Take a look at her goal that got the ‘Cats through to the second round of the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.
O’Donnell’s story has been one of my favorites to recount to people. After not seeing action in 2023, O’Donnell played around 17 minutes her sophomore year and 20 minutes a game her junior year. This year has been O’Donnell’s biggest year on record. Her 770 minutes in 2026 have surpassed her sophomore and junior year numbers combined.
It is hard to fill in massive shoes, but amid Roesch’s absence, O’Donnell has stepped up massively in that 10 role for the Wildcats.
I actually had the privilege of covering O’Donnell’s first-ever collegiate goal against Nebraska her junior year, which I will forever remember because of her teammates’ reactions to it. It is clear that O’Donnell is a valued and loved member of the roster.
Coming up for the ‘Cats
One last push sends the Wildcats into the end of October, with matchups against Illinois and No. 20 Purdue on the docket.
The Illinois game will be played in Urbana-Champaign on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. CT, while the Wildcats head back home on Sunday to play Purdue for a 5 p.m. CT kickoff at Martin Stadium. Both games will stream on Big Ten Plus, and both games will be critical for the 11th place ‘Cats’ campaign to mount a last-chance break for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament’s field of eight.
