Tracey Fuchs and the Northwestern Wildcats flew out to Charlottesville, VA with a mountain-sized chip on their shoulders.
Despite being the No. 2 team in the nation per this week’s NFHCA Coaches Poll, the ‘Cats were denied the opportunity to host an NCAA regional in 2025, with this year’s bids going to North Carolina, Princeton, Harvard, and Virginia, the latter being the hosts for NU’s bracket.
The Big Ten champs shifted their focus from dominating their conference tournament to securing a program-defining
national title, completing the first step in their conquest on Friday.
Their Ivy League adversaries in No. 12 Yale were seeking an equally important national championship after getting their very first bid to the dance. The Bulldogs, coming into Friday, were riding a trajectory opposite to Northwestern’s with losses to Temple, No. 3 Harvard, and No. 5 Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament — the first two of those contests being decided by one score.
After a closely contested first half, the Wildcats would pour onto the Bulldogs’ woes with four goals inside the final 30 minutes of the game. Accounting for all but one Northwestern goal on the afternoon were Ashley Sessa and Piper Borz, each finishing with two apiece. Maddie Zimmer added to the goal total to pair with stellar transition play throughout the game.
Yale was completely stifiled inside its attacking 25, as they’d only rip off three shots on the day. The Bulldogs’ goal late in the contest was their only shot on target.
Yale would start the matchup with possession, but NU took the ball away five seconds after the contest commenced. Kate Janssen took the first shot for the ‘Cats, but sent it high above the head of Bulldog goalie Amelie Schwarzkopf.
Northwestern had three takeaways within the first minute of the contest, all inside Yale’s 25. Its best opportunity was a Maddie Zimmer shot right front of the cage at the 1:16 mark, which multiple Yale defenders got in front of to halt the early threat.
Play would continue on Northwestern’s offensive side of the field for much of the next five minutes, with a Zimmer takeaway flipping possession with 10 minutes to go. The ‘Cats’ golden fastbreak opportunity went up in smoke with an errant past from Zimmer intended for Piper Borz.
Zimmer redeemed herself a minute later on a second Wildcat fastbreak with a beauty of a pass to Ashley Sessa, coming down the middle of the field. Unfortunately for the ’Cats, Sessa’s shot in motion missed to the left of the cage.
Victoria Collee sparked the Bulldogs’ best opportunity at the game’s first score with a takeaway of her own, but a foul just outside the arc put another “x” on the offensive try.
Northwestern continued to put pressure on for the final four minutes of the quarter, missing another scoring chance from inside the arc in the time frame. Much of Yale’s success was due to their discipline, with the Bulldogs not allowing a penalty corner to a squad that ranked fifth nationally in penalty corners per game.
That was the case, at least, until 45.1 remained on the clock.
Sessa’s insertion was stopped by Zimmer for an Ilse Tromp shot, but a redirection from Borz sent the ball out of bounds.
Unforced errors and squandered opportunities kept NU off the board in the first quarter, and the second seemed like it would bring about more of the same.
Zimmer opened the period with a long-distance shot that ricocheted off Schwarzkopf’s best friend: the left post.
All of a sudden, the Wildcats found themselves going down the rabbit hole of misfortune in round one.
Zimmer had herself another opportunity at Schwarzkopf three and a half minutes in, but the Bulldog freshman would get the better of the Honda Sport Award winner.
She’d also get the better of Grace Schulze, who’d try her hand at the Yale’s stalwart presence in the cage with 7:30 left to go, but to no avail, as Schwarzkopf logged her third save of the game.
Northwestern fans collectively begun to think “maybe a second corner will put the defending champs in front”, and they’d be in that exact position with four minutes left. However, Schwarzkopf took the air out the lungs of ‘Cats faithful with another save, denying Laura Salamanca on the play.
It took another two minutes for ‘Cats fans to stop holding their breaths, but it was Sessa, the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year, facilitating the goal that relieved the faithful crowd heading into halftime.
Following a Northwestern takeaway, Zimmer sent a rocket from the ‘Cats own 25 to Olivia Bent-Cole on the opposite side of the field. Bent-Cole then found Sessa to her right, and the superstar’s slap shot bounced off the stick of Borz and into the top right corner of the net.
The juniors’ connection was the game’s only score of the first half. NU led 1-0 at the break.
The third quarter opened with a near identical copy of the shot that started quarter number two for the ‘Cats, with a shot bouncing off the crossbar just over a minute in. Bent-Cole was the shot taker.
Northwestern’s next two opportunities inside the circle went awry. The first was a Bulldog takeaway from the top of the circle, and the second was another misconnection between Sessa and Borz.
Northwestern seemed to had capitalized off their third PC of the game with an Ella Kokinis score, but an official’s referral wiped the goal off the board. The reason for the overturned call was unclear.
Despite being in a 1-0 hole, the virtues of luck seemed to side with the women in blue and white to start the quarter.
That was until a fourth Northwestern penalty corner disproved that narrative.
A Sessa insertion found its way back to the Olympian after Maja Zivojnovic fired a shot off the padding of Schwarzkopf. Sessa easily fired the ball home, doubling the ‘Cats’ lead.
Yale’s first corner of the game was a viable threat to the padding on Northwestern’s lead. The Tabs Collier insertion was stopped by Maddy Zavalick for a Chiara Picciafuoco shot, but Zimmer would make the defensive play of the game, blocking the shot with her abdomen to preserve the two-goal lead with 18 minutes and 45 seconds left to play.
The graduate student’s bravery in taking the (rubber) bullet — and subsequent bruise — allowed the ‘Cats to take their much needed cushion into the final 15 minute interval of the afternoon marquee.
For the first time in the game, the Bulldogs would muster the first shot attempt of a period, courtesy of Poppy Beales, who just missed to the right of the net.
Borz would put the game out of reach with NU’s third goal of the game. The dagger came after a reckless pass from Picciafuoco was intercepted by Eva Nemeth near the top of the circle. Nemeth pushed the ball down low for another Borz defection over Schwarzkopf’s outstretched left arm.
Yale would not be eliminated quietly, as its second PC of the game resulted in a Collier score just as the game eclipsed the 55 minute mark.
Zimmer came right back into Bulldog territory to provide a Northwestern response just 79 seconds later, ensuring that Yale would be one-and-done in their failed quest for a national title.
For good measure, Sessa converted on a late-game penalty stroke to put a cap on a 5-1 Northwestern victory, prematurely ending the Cinderella story for the 12th ranked Yale Bulldogs.
The dominant attacking trio of Sessa, Borz, and Zimmer will look to end another Cinderella run on Sunday when Northwestern faces Miami (Ohio), who upset the fourth-seeded hosts in Virginia 2-1 earlier in the day. The quarterfinal is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. CST, with the winner set to hike 170 miles south to Durham, N.C. for the NCAA Field Hockey Final Four.
