Northwestern University Athletics
2004 Spring Season Recap
6/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
June 2, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - As the Northwestern women's soccer team heads into the fall season, head coach Jenny Haigh is looking for one thing from her players -- consistency.
"We were up and down on the field this spring," said the Wildcats' fourth-year mentor, who saw her team go 3-4-2 during the out-of-season campaign. "At times we were a very strong team, but at other times we looked fairly inexperienced. We hope that the consequences of being up and down will be a valuable lesson for the fall -- we need to be more consistent in how we train and compete."
The Wildcats began the spring season in late February, traveling to the Peach State where they lost to SEC member Georgia (3-0) but defeated Georgia State (2-1) thanks to goals by Whitney Jones and Katie Wright.
Following spring break, the 'Cats traveled to Champaign for the Illinois Cup, going 2-1 in the competition. They lost to Illinois State (2-1) despite a Julie Lipinski goal, but came back to defeat Eastern Michigan in a shootout and then shut out Loyola (2-0) with goals coming from Lipinski and Tabitha Lowey.
One week later, NU traveled to Kalamazoo where they lost to fellow Big Ten member Michigan State (1-0) and tied Western Michigan (0-0); one week after that, the 'Cats fell to Marquette (3-2) despite goals from Wright and Lipinski, then settled for another scoreless draw against UW-Milwaukee.
"When we had the whole team fighting hard out there, we looked really good," said Haigh, who needs to fill two holes in the lineup that were held last year by first-team All-Big Ten players. "We had some younger players step up both on and off the field, and that was important for this team. We just need to keep finding and expecting them, each day."
Haigh pointed out the play of Lipinski and 2003 Big Ten All-Freshman Team member Shannon Schneeman in the midfield, and noted that sophomore-to-be Jones and senior-to-be Carolyn Hack were voted captains for the 2004 season by their teammates. Haigh also saw Lowey as a threat in every match, and was pleased with the progress of Michelle Magnuson (a transfer from Evansville who saw little time last year as she continued to come back from a knee injury). Wright moved into the back and was steady, and Leslie Gittings got some time in the cage with Jones up front and did well with her opportunities.
"We worked on a lot of things, both tangible and intangible, in terms of our program," said Haigh. "Adding six new recruits in the fall will obviously help us, but we are returning a core of players who are in a better place than they were a year ago. That is really important for our team's chemistry this fall."
2004 Spring Season Results
Feb 21 at Georgia (L, 0-3)
Feb 22 at Georgia State (W, 2-1 -- Jones, Wright)
Saturday, April 10 (at University of Illinois)
Illinois State (L, 1-2 -- Lipinski)
Eastern Michigan (W, 1-0 in shootout)
Loyola (W, 2-0 -- Lipinski, Lowey)
Saturday, April 17 (at Western Michigan University)
Michigan State (L, 0-1)
Western Michigan (T, 0-0)
Saturday, April 24 (at LakeShore/Montrose Field in Chicago)
Marquette (L, 2-3 -- Wright, Lipinski)
UW-Milwaukee (T, 0-0)
