Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Rolling into Big Ten Tournament
11/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 10, 2004
NU Big Ten Tournament Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- For 89 minutes and 16 seconds on October 8, it appeared as though Northwestern had knocked off the No. 9-ranked team in the nation, holding a 2-0 lead on Penn State and just 44 seconds away from its first Big Ten regular season win in five years. The Nittany Lions, however, threw everything including the kitchen sink into the Wildcats' penalty area -- amazingly scoring a pair of goals to earn a 2-2 tie and spoil NU's chance at history.
It turns out that history had to wait only one more week as Northwestern stormed into Bloomington, Ind., on Oct. 17, and defeated the then-No. 3-ranked Hoosiers, 1-0, where no visiting team had won in three years. The win was also something no Big Ten team had done anywhere during the previous nine regular seasons.
After adding another pair of Big Ten notches to their record, the third-seeded Wildcats arrive in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Big Ten tournament with their highest-ever seed, their most-ever Big Ten wins and their most-ever wins in a season over Division I opponents.
And in the first round, Northwestern has been given the chance to finish a job it came so close to doing earlier in the season--facing off with No. 6 seed Penn State at 10:45 a.m. CST Thursday. The No. 12-ranked Nittany Lions are much better than their 10-3-7 (1-3-2 Big Ten) record would indicate, having faced a brutal schedule featuring three of the top five schools ranked in the latest NSCAA Coaches Poll.
There is no hotter team, however, than the Wildcats entering the weekend. NU has won six of its last seven matches and is unbeaten in seven of its last eight. While Northwestern boasts the top-scoring offense in the conference, it has surrendered only seven goals during its final eight contests.
NU has 128 points in its 18 matches, 15 more than Penn State which ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring. The Wildcats' 40 goals and 48 assists are also tops in the conference in each category. All of that scoring has been done while taking the least number of shots (210) of any Big Ten squad.
Individually, sophomore Gerardo Alvarez (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) ranks second in the Big Ten in goals (11) and points (29). Freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) leads the conference and is Northwestern's single-season record holder with 11 assists on the year.
While the 'Cats did not have a regular-season Big Ten win since 1999 entering this year, they did earn a Big Ten Tournament victory last season. Northwestern knocked off the No. 2 seed Michigan, 2-1, to advance to the semifinal round where Penn State defeated the Wildcats, 1-0.
