Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan (Big Ten Tournament)
Northwestern Stuns No. 23 Michigan, 2-1
11/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 13, 2003
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On a weekend when Indiana University is being given an opportunity to bid a final, fond farewell to its longtime head coach Jerry Yeagley -- a man who built a program from scratch and turned it into arguably the premier program in the country -- the Northwestern men's soccer team grabbed the stage to show that while one era is coming to an end, another may just be dawning.
Playing on IU's Bill Armstrong Stadium pitch, the seventh-seeded Wildcats punctuated a first day full of surprises at the Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament with a 2-1 victory over the No. 2 seed Michigan.
Northwestern now moves on to the semifinal round, where the 'Cats will play sixth-seeded Penn State Friday at 6:30 Central. The Nittany Lions were also upset winners, knocking off third-seeded Michigan State, 2-1. The first semifinal Friday will pit Indiana, which received a first-round bye as the top seed, against fifth-seeded Wisconsin -- the Badgers downed fourth-seeded Ohio State 2-0.
The win was Northwestern's (7-6-6) first against a Big Ten opponent under Tim Lenahan, the Wildcats' third-year mentor, and its first in Big Ten Tournament play since 1999. It was also NU's first over a ranked opponent under Lenahan -- in addition to being seeded second in the tournament behind the host Hoosiers, the Wolverines (13-6-0) entered Thursday's match ranked 23rd nationally.
"We knew (the first win against a conference opponent) was coming-- it was just a matter of when," Lenahan said. "We are too good of a team and been building too good a program to not win against any of the teams we play."
Northwestern had been shut out in four straight Big Ten Tournament matches leading up to Thursday, but that streak came to a quick halt when two of NU's precocious freshmen, Will Nicholas and Daniel Chille, combined to put the 'Cats up just 3:18 into the match. Chille ripped a cross that Nicholas was able to finish.
"We made a tactical adjustment early in the match. I wanted to get (Nicholas) in the box because I knew he could get us a goal in there," Lenahan said. "We believed we could win coming into the match, but scoring that first goal got everyone on the wagon early."
The Wildcats doubled their advantage with just 1:30 left in the half, thanks to the third of Northwestern's tremendous freshman trio. This time, Gerardo Alvarez took a pass from Kevin Earnest and went in alone on a breakaway. At the half, Northwestern was up 2-0.
Michigan -- which outshot NU 17-9 on the day -- got things revved up in the second half, and finally broke through with 25:48 still on the clock when Knox Cameron used his head to rebound home a shot by Mychal Turpin that rang off the crossbar. However, that was all the Wolverines would get, as Northwestern held on for the victory.
"We knew that we would see a barrage of shots in the second half," Lenahan said. "But Justin Pines did an excellent job for us tonight."
Pines started in goal for the Wildcats and came up with five saves; he received plenty of help, as four other saves were credited to NU defenders. At the other end, Michigan's Peter Dzubay had two stops.
"I told the guys to enjoy this win for a few minutes, but we didn't come to play one game. We came here to play on Sunday," said Lenahan. Click here for a complete recap of first-day action at the tournament!
MATCH SUMMARY
Score by Half
#7 Northwestern 2 0 - 2
#2 Michigan 0 1 - 1
Goal Summary
NU - Will Nicholas (Daniel Chille), 3:18
NU - Gerardo Alvarez (Kevin Earnest), 43:30
MICH - Knox Cameron (Mychal Turpin), 64:12
Shots: Michigan 17, NU 9
Corner Kicks: NU 2, Michigan 2
Fouls: Michigan 19, NU 8
Offsides: NU 6, Michigan 0
GK Saves: NU - Justin Pines 5, team 4; MICH - Peter Dzubay 2
