Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Badgers Outlast Northwestern 1-0
10/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill.-- The Northwestern women's soccer team was edged by the Wisconsin Badgers by the score of 1-0 today at the Thomas Athletic Complex in Evanston, Ill. With the loss Northwestern's season comes to a close with a 9-9-1 record overall with a 2-7-1 mark in the Big Ten, missing the Big Ten Tournament by one game.
The win gives Wisconsin a berth in this year's Big Ten Tournament next week in Ann Arbor, Mich. as they improve to 9-8-2 and 3-6-1 in the conference.
The close game exemplified Northwestern's Big Ten portion of the schedule with all seven of NU's conference defeats coming by a single goal.
Elise Weber's goal was the difference in the game when her tally in the 71st minute gave the Badgers all the offense they would need. On the play, Amy Vermeulen flipped the ball with her back to the goal out in front of a streaking Weber who waited until the very last minute and booted the ball past a diving Whitney Jones (Jr., Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West).
"We had trouble keeping the ball and I thought Wisconsin did a good job keeping possession," head coach Jenny Haigh said. "We spent way too much time defending. Wisconsin is a good team and they play good soccer. We had a lot a great people out there working their butts off and we just couldn't come up with the ball enough times. We had enough good looks to win it, but that's soccer sometimes."
The Wildcats had plenty of great looks at the goal, but again fell victim to some great defensive saves. Two in particular were Jeanette Lorme's (Fr., Santa Clarita, Calif./Saugus) near goal in the first half and Kelsey Hans' (So., Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville) near tally late in the second.
Lorme's best look came when her rocket of a shot from the right side was snagged by the outstretched arms of Wisconsin goalkeeper Lynn Murray. Hans had several shots turned away and nearly tied the game late in the second half, but was denied once again by Murray. Hans finished with six shots, three on goal.
The game was very evenly played with both teams tallying 16 shots. Jones had five saves on the afternoon with one team save, highlighted by a great defensive play when she snagged a Weber header shot 10-feet in front of the goal in the second period. Murray recorded nine saves to go with one team save for Wisconsin.
Seniors Tabitha Lowey (Peachtree City, Ga./Mcintosh), Julie Lipinski (Tinley Park, Ill./Marion Catholic), Molly Maxfield (Denver, Colo./ East) and Kate Ghidinelli (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd) were honored prior to the start of the game.
"This senior class is going to missed," Haigh said. "They are a great group. It's hard to put into words. It's always hard losing a class and I'm really sorry that we couldn't go further for them.
"(After the game) I told our team to keep their heads up. They played well and fought hard. They did a lot things well and I'm proud of the way they stuck together and stayed positive throughout the season."
