Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
Two Second-Half Goals Propel Wildcats Past Buckeyes, 2-0
10/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Needing a win to get back on track in Big Ten play, the Wildcats came out inspired against Ohio State on Friday and used goals by Shannon Schneeman (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) and Krystal Patterson (St. Louis, Mo./Shiloh (Ga.)) to top the Buckeyes at Lakeside Field, 2-0. Lauren Johnston (Denver, Colo./Denver East) made four saves -- including a point-blank stop in the second half -- to pick up her second shutout of the season.
With the win, Northwestern snaps a three-game losing streak and improves to 6-4-2 on the year, 1-2 in the Big Ten. Ohio State falls to 1-1 in the Big Ten and 7-4-0 overall.
"I am proud of the way we responded after a rough start to Big Ten season," head coach Stephanie Erickson said. "We played our most complete game of the season."
Most of the first half was spent in the middle third of the pitch, but Northwestern maintained control of the play with five first-half shots and two corners. NU's first opportunity came in the eighth minute when Kelsey Hans (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville) forced a Buckeye save.
Freshman Jennifer Baumann (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial) gave the Wildcats another scoring chance off a Jenny Dunn (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Louisville) corner kick.
The first half ended with no score, but the Wildcats needed less than two minutes of the second half to get on the scoreboard.
Schneeman continued her career offensive year with her seventh goal of the season. She owns the team lead in goals and has already set a career high in the category. Hans notched the assist on a perfect cross, leaving the ball in the air long enough for Schneeman to launch it into the back of the net with her head.
Although NU notched two goals, arguably the biggest play of the game came at the midpoint of the second half when Johnston stopped a shot from point-blank range to keep the score tied at 1-1. The senior was perfectly positioned and made the save to keep NU in the lead. Johnston was on her game for the whole 90 minutes, owning her goal box and making several sliding stops that will not show up as saves.
NU dominated the second half, taking seven shots, but keeping the ball in the OSU end. The 'Cats added insurance at 75:52 when Patterson, who just checked into the game, took another perfect cross, this one from sophomore Zendzi Neal (Washington D.C./Washington International) and hit it on the fly into the goal for her first goal of the season.
The assist was Neal's first point of the year as she was in her third game back after missing the first nine due to injury.
Ohio State could not mount a serious threat in the closing minutes and NU captured its first Big Ten win of 2007 in dominating fashion. The 'Cats took 12 shots and forced four corners. Johnston made four saves in goal. Hans led the way in shots with four and freshman Sam Greene (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) notched two shots on goal off the bench.
Freshman Kirstyn Atkinson (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) made her first career start on defense for the Wildcats.
NU returns to action at 11 a.m. Sunday against 11th-ranked Penn State at Lakeside Field. Note: The time has been changed from the originally scheduled start of noon. Scout Day activities will not be affected.
