Northwestern could not crack the wall that has been formed by the record-extending goalkeeping of Northern Illinois goalkeeper Jordan Godsey. The Wildcats fell 1-0 to the Huskies on a quick goal by Charlie Oliver, less than one minute into the overtime period.
The ‘Cats struggled to make big plays. Godsey saved all three of Northwestern's shots on goal, as many of their eight other shots were open, but not on target. This was the 32nd career shutout for Godsey, good enough for 12th on the NCAA career shutout record list.
“You have to make plays,” Northwestern head coach Tim Lenahan said. “Making plays are not necessarily just shooting and scoring, but being able to complete passes, being able to get on the ends of corner kicks, running the proper set pieces. We’ve got to make plays. The last two games we haven’t made plays.”
Northern Illinois and Northwestern have typically had low scoring games in recent contests. Their last five matches ended in a shutout for one of the teams, with three contests going to NU and two to NIU. This contest was particularly physical. Twenty fouls were called in the game, 12 against NU and eight against NIU.
Lenahan was upset with the lack of veteran leadership. He said he expects his seniors and juniors to become field coaches as the season progresses.
“This is the kind of game where they have to carry the team a little bit,” he said.
Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Wildcats. Freshman Joey Calistri had four shots and freshman Cole Missimo did his best to make plays on his own, frequently dribbling between multiple defenders and taking two shots.
“We only had one guy trying to make plays tonight and that was Cole,” Lenahan said.
Calistri said he felt that there was some missed opportunities to score and looks towards the final two conference games, at Wisconsin and Indiana, as a place to show Northwestern’s skill.
“We created some decent chances, but in the final third we weren’t as clean as we had to be to finish the game off, and we have to work on that and get better very fast for the next couple of games.”
The game was so windy that between four and seven balls were blown over the fencing around Lakeside Field towards Lake Michigan during the game. Even more were saved by the trees planted between the field and the lake.
Northwestern had the wind advantage in the second half, which allowed them to push the ball up a bit. But NIU had the advantage in the first half and overtime period, aiding their quick score.
Two Huskies, James Stevenson and Rocco Taglia, were suspended for the game for receiving their fifth yellow cards of the season during their last game against Bowling Green.
This was the second 1-0 home overtime loss for the ‘Cats this week. They fell to Penn State on Senior Day last Sunday.