Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Welcome Crusaders
9/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 19, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern welcomes Mid-Continent Conference foe and regional rival Valparaiso to the Thomas Athletic Complex on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m.
"We certainly need to prepare ourselves to compete against Valparaiso because we didn't come with our best against Central Michigan," said head coach Jenny Haigh. "We have to establish our ability to compete for a championship each an every game. A win or loss against Valpo means a lot to us."
The Wildcats (6-1-0) enter the contest on a five-match winning streak, and will look to this match as an opportunity to continue momentum going into the conference schedule. NU opens the Big Ten season at Illinois on Friday night at 7 p.m. Valparaiso (5-2, 1-0) is coming off its first conference win against Western Michigan.
"This match is really important to our season's big picture," said Haigh. "We will head into conference play soon and if we can get one more win, one more opportunity to gain momentum and confidence, one more opportunity to sharpen things up I think we'll be hitting a good stride."
The match will feature young talent on both sides, as Valpo's freshmen have accounted for 11 of the Crusaders' 19 goals this season. The Crusaders are led by Kendall Brown, who has already set Valpo's freshman scoring record with 7 goals and is tied for fourth on Valpo's all-time single season charts.
Sophomore Kelsey Hans (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville), who earned Big Ten weekly accolades last week, leads NU in goals with five. She is now second on the Wildcats' career goal list with 20. Freshmen Jenny Dunn (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Louisville) and Jeanette Lorme (Santa Clarita, Calif./Saugus) both have two goals a piece and have consistently turned in strong performances.
While Valpo is 4-0 at home for the first time in school history, the Crusaders are 1-3 on the road, with losses at Central Michigan (1-2) and at Toledo (0-4). Northwestern just defeated the Chippewas at home 2-1 on Friday, Sept. 16. The Wildcats are undefeated at home (3-0-0) and hold a 3-0-0 record against the Crusaders.
