Oct. 21, 2012

Box Score

Watch Match Highlights on Wildcats All Access!

Site: Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)
Score: Northwestern – 1, Iowa – 0
Records: NU (6-10-2, 2-8-0 B1G), Iowa (11-5-3, 2-5-3)
Next NU Event: Saturday, Oct. 27 – at Michigan State – Noon CT – East Lansing, Mich.
 
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern hosted its final home match of the regular season Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field and sent seniors Bri Westlund, Meredith Finsand and Jessica Rubin out in style, recording the 1-0 victory over Iowa. After scoring two late goals in their 2-1 win over Illinois on Thursday, the Wildcats added another in the final five minutes of the match as Niki Sebo’s header in the 86th minute was enough for the win.
 
“The feeling of winning is addictive and the players are just hungry,” Northwestern head coach Michael Moynihan said. “They’ve been working really hard and they want to see reward for that work that they’ve been putting in; whether that leads to a spot in the Big Ten Tournament or just a W, I don’t know that it really matters to them at this point, it just feels good. I think they like they progress that we’ve made and they want to just keep building on it. It didn’t take a whole lot from me to get them motivated to come out here today and when you add in the Senior Day celebration, they wanted to send them off on a good note.”
 
Neither team was able to generate many chances in the first half as the Wildcats finished with five shots compared to three for the Hawkeyes. The NU defense kept Iowa from finding any quality looks on net as both teams were fairly even on possession in the first frame. Both teams had one shot on goal as NU keeper Anna Cassell and Iowa goalie Meg Goodson each finished the first with one save.
 
Iowa switched keepers at halftime with Hannah Clark playing the second half in net. Northwestern challenged Clark early with two quality chances within the first five minutes of the frame. Junior Kate Allen sent in a free kick towards the goal and Clark was there to make the save, but she mishandled the ball,  giving Sebo another chance from inside the 6-yard box that went just wide past the left post.
 
The Hawkeyes picked up the pace on offense and responded with six-straight shots before NU got another look in the 74th minute when junior Nicole Jewell’s shot was saved by Clark.
 
Once again, the Northwestern defense battled through the Hawkeye attempts and the Wildcats broke through in the 86th minute with the lone goal of the match. Freshman defender Jennifer Korn set up the goal, sending a pass from the far left side across the box to the far post where Sebo was positioned perfectly on the right side of the net for the goal. She sent a header from inside the 6-yard box into the far post past Clark, tallying her fourth goal of the season.
 
NU held off Iowa in the final minutes and hung on for the Big Ten victory.
 
Iowa finished with the slight 12-11 edge on shots with the 9-6 lead in the second half.  Sebo led the Wildcats with three shots while Jewell and Allen had two each. Iowa’s Ashley Catrell led all players with four shots.
 
The Hawkeyes also had the 4-3 clip on corner kicks and 4-3 mark on saves. Cassell played all 90 minutes in net for Northwestern and recorded her first shutout of the season and third of the year for the ’Cats.
 
With Sunday’s win, Moynihan, along with assistant coach David Nikolic who has been on Moynihan’s coaching staff his entire career, now has 199 career victories.
 
After back-to-back Big Ten wins, Northwestern looks to end the 2012 campaign with another win, playing its final regular-season match Saturday, Oct. 27 at Michigan State. Kickoff in East Lansing, Mich., is set for noon CT.

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