It wouldn’t be Northwestern soccer if it wasn’t thrilling.
For the eighth time in 10 games, the Northwestern men’s soccer team (5-4-1, 2-2-0 B1G) found itself in a match decided by one goal or fewer. Five days after a 2-1 upset victory over the No.13 Maryland Terrapins, the Wildcats were on the road again Wednesday to face cross town rival DePaul (1-10-0, 0-2-0 Big East). As they did in College Park, Northwestern gutted out a 2-1 victory, this time over the reeling Blue Demons of DePaul, for their fifth victory of the season.
Senior forward Joey Calistri opened the scoring in the 19th minute, taking advantage of a ricochet off a DePaul defender and beating the keeper from three yards out. It was Calistri’s third goal of the season and 30th of his career, moving him into second place on Northwestern soccer’s all-time scoring list. The goal was assisted by freshman Jake Roberge. DePaul would equalize in the 58th minute, on a short strike from senior defender Jalen Harvey directly in front of goal.
DePaul played the role of underdog aggressively, generating 12 shots (six on goal) and five corners. Northwestern took eight shots (three on goal), and was awarded eight corners. It was a scrappy affair, with the two sides combining for 31 fouls.
The score would remain level until the 86th minute, when a mistimed header from DePaul defender Harvey floated into the back of his own net, giving Northwestern a 2-1 advantage. This score line would hold to the finish, as Northwestern registered their fifth win in their last seven contests, while handing DePaul its seventh straight defeat.
Northwestern will look to keep the momentum going on Saturday, when they square off against SIU-Edwardsville in a pseudo-home match at UIC's Flames Field in Chicago.
The No.22 ranked Northwestern women’s soccer team (9-3-2, 3-2-1 B1G) also found themselves in enemy territory this week, as they traveled to Ann Arbor for a much anticipated matchup with the unranked Michigan Wolverines (9-4-1, 4-1-1 B1G).
Coming into the Thursday night matchup, these two teams found themselves part of a four-way tie for second place in the Big Ten, along with the Wisconsin Badgers and Penn State Nittany Lions. Northwestern was looking to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to Penn State just four days earlier, a defeat that marked the first time in 2015 the defensive-minded Wildcats have allowed more than one goal in a match. Michigan, on the other hand, came in attempting to build on a 1-1 draw with 25th-ranked Rutgers in their previous game.
The home side would prevail, as the Wolverines snuck by the Wildcats 1-0.
Michigan dominated possession in the first half but was unable to break onto the score sheet until the 34th minute, when senior midfielder Corinne Harris unleashed a spectacular strike into the top left corner, well past the outstretched arms of Northwestern sophomore keeper Lauren Clem. The goal was assisted by Reilly Martin.
Northwestern came out much more aggressive in the second half, keeping more possession and generating four shot attempts, but they could not dig out of the hole that Harris’ opening goal put them in. In the loss, Clem added four more saves to her total on the season, while senior Nandi Mehta, junior Addie Steiner, and freshmen Hannah Davison and Kayla Sharples logged 90 minutes of game action each.
The Wildcats will look to snap their two game skid against the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing this Sunday.