Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Close Regular Season at Wisconsin
11/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 4, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern enters its final regular-season match at Wisconsin Sunday needing a win or a tie to lock up a third-place conference finish by itself and also guarantee the Wildcats the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tournament.
Currently NU has seven points in the conference while Wisconsin has six. Lurking in the background is Michigan, which has one remaining match with current No. 2 seed Ohio State. With a Michigan win and a Wildcat loss, the Wolverines would tie NU for fourth place, with Northwestern holding on to the fourth seed based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
For Northwestern, this season has been the best in program history. NU has reached a higher mark than ever before in the Big Ten standings and has defeated the most Division I opponents (11) in school history. And now the awards are beginning to roll in.
Junior Jaro Pylypczak (Lombard, Ill./Benet Academy) has been named to the CoSida Academic All-District V first team, and now moves on to the CoSida Academic All-America ballot. Freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) was recently named an honorable mention freshman All-American by Top Drawer Soccer.
Meanwhile, sophomore Gerardo Alvarez (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) continues to lead the Big Ten in goals (11) and points (29) while moving himself into Northwestern's top-five all-time in goals, assists and points for both a season and a career.
The Wildcats as a team boast the Big Ten's highest-octane offense, leading the conference in goals (38), assists (46) and points (122). Perhaps most impressive, Northwestern has put up those gaudy numbers while taking the least number of shots (198) in the Big Ten.
Northwestern faces a Wisconsin team which has spent much of the season in the Big Ten cellar before traveling to Michigan State last weekend and knocking off the Spartans, 2-1. The win catapulted the Badgers into a fourth-place tie in the conference with MSU, just one point behind the Wildcats.
Senior Nick Van Sicklen scored both UW goals against Michigan State, earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts. Van Sicklen is tied with NU's Alvarez for the conference lead in goals with 11 while also racking up 28 points on the season. Jed Hohlbein is Wisconsin's second-leading scorer with six goals and 13 points.
Eric Hanson has played every minute in goal for the Badgers this season, accumulating 64 saves while allowing 24 goals for a 1.49 goals against average.
