Sept. 7, 2012

Box Score

Site: Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)
Score: Northwestern 2, Northern Illinois 0
Records: NU (3-2-1), Northern Illinois (2-3-0)
Next NU Event: Sunday, Sept. 9 – vs. Yale – Lakeside Field – Noon

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern recorded its first shutout of the season Friday night at Lakeside Field, blanking in-state rival Northern Illinois 2-0. The Wildcats received scoring contributions from sophomore midfielder/forward KK Barr and sophomore midfielder Nikki Sebo, tallying a goal in each half.

With the win, Northwestern improves to 3-2-1 on the year while Northern Illinois drops to 2-3-0.

“It’s a good win at home and nice to get our first shutout of the season,” NU head coach Michael Moynihan said. “Coming into the game we had heard that Northern Illinois is a very high-energy team and they bring a lot of bodies at you. I thought we scored some really nice goals. It was a bit of a rough game, I don’t know if it was the wind or what, but we need to do better with some simple things and in that regard, we’ve had better games. I think there’s more in us, but the quality of the goals was great and seeing out a victory at home is nice.”

The game began with tough conditions that had winds gusting from about 20-25 miles per hour and a minor power outage on campus put the lights out at Lakeside Field during the early stages of the match. After about a 15 minute delay, the match resumed and Northwestern played right into the wind that was gusting from the northwest for the first 45 minutes. The wind did not keep the Wildcats from getting quality chances though as they had the 5-1 shot advantage before scoring their first goal.

NU was able to put one of its six first-half shots past Northern Illinois goalkeeper Amy Carr in the 35th minute. Barr came off the bench in the 31st minute and shortly after that put the Wildcats on the board with her first career goal at 34:13. Junior forward Kate Allen dribbled down the far right side, finding Barr as she fired off a shot from about 15 yards out, putting NU up 1-0.

The Wildcats had the 6-4 edge on shots in the first half while the Huskies has the lone corner kick in the frame.

In the second half, NU had the wind at its back and capitalized in the 61st minute as Sebo scored her third goal of the year. Sophomore midfielder Georgia Waddle sent a cross in from the end line to the center of the box and Sebo was there for the header. Sebo, along with Waddle and Allen, each lead Northwestern with three goals apiece so far this season.

Northwestern had three more shots the remainder of the half and held on for the 2-0 win. Both teams finished with four shots in the half, giving NU the 10-9 edge in the game and the Huskies had the 2-1 advantage on corners.

Freshman goalkeeper Rachel Bergman recorded her first career win, saving two shots while NIU’s Carr stopped three shots.

Moynihan subbed frequently Friday as all the healthy NU field players, 21 Wildcats in all, played some minutes. Freshman Holliday Shuler played her first career match while sophomore Briana Borsellino and senior Meredith Finsand entered the game for the first time this season.

Northwestern is back in action at Lakeside Field Sunday, hosting Yale at noon.

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