On the road to the Chinook State, Northwestern (5-5-1, 2-3 B1G) came within 11 minutes of a statement win against No. 14 Washington (6-3-2, 3-1-1 B1G) before two late goals doomed the Wildcats to a second straight defeat.
Washington started sloppily, committing five fouls in the first 13 minutes. Northwestern, on the other hand, looked good as new considering its 4-0 loss to Rutgers the game prior— holding on considerably longer than on its trip to Piscataway.
Through two shots, one blocked and one eclipsing
the box, the ’Cats mounted an early attack on the Huskies, pressuring their defense until finally it all connected.
It was in the 16th minute that a free-kick foul on second-year Kevin Hernandez lined up the golden opportunity for sophomore Aaron O’Reilly to convert. Jogging to the ball, O’Reilly took a no-hesitation kick to the left side of the net, and second-year Kenny Pierpoint sprawled out, missing the highlighter-yellow ball by an inch.
Northwestern had struck first.
Four Washington and two NU fouls later, the home squad finally made an effort to rattle the redshirt sophomore Dominic Pereira, standing tall between the posts. Third-year Zach Ramsey took the task, but his free kick slipped through Northwestern’s line of defense before landing in Pereira’s arms. A save for number one.
The following 29 minutes before the half included a symmetrical performance: four fouls, a pair for either team, two yellow cards, one for Hernandez and one to NU graduate student Seth Mahlmeiserr, and six shots, three for the ’Cats — two blocked and one off target — and three for the Huskies — two blocked and one that culminated in another save for Pereira.
Action started immediately out of the half; within one minute the Huskies had already taken a shot, though off target. Northwestern fired back with a shot into the bottom center of the net, but Pierpoint redeemed himself from earlier with a save.
For a change of pace, Washington substituted Pierpoint for first-year Noah Newman, and immediately he notched a save as well. Senior Tyler Glassberg’s shot in the bottom left of the net was not enough to give the ‘Cats a comfortable lead.
Washington then began peppering the Northwestern net, as it almost turned into a nightmare scenario for NU. Once it hit the 80th minute, the second-year Husky Osato Enabulele chest-bumped a corner kick into the back of the net to equalize.
Within 34 seconds, the Huskies were at it again. Ramsey’s penalty kick faked out Pereira so badly that he fell to his right as the ball slid easily past him. The score rose to 2-1, and the Huskies led in a game for the first time since Sept. 25 against Rutgers.
With four minutes left, Northwestern couldn’t surge back, and despite holding the lead for 79 minutes, it fell to the reigning national champions.
Looking to break even in conference play, the next matchup is slated for Oct. 16, with kickoff at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Wildcats will face the Penn State Nittany Lions in front of a home crowd at Martin Stadium.
