Friday, September 14

Bloomington, Ind.

2 p.m.

Northwestern

(5-3)

Indiana

(2-5)

Team	1	2	Final F
Northwestern	2	0	2
Indiana	0	1	1

Photo by: S. J. Carrera, Inc.

No. 11 'Cats Hold Off Hoosiers In Big Ten Opener

9/14/2018 5:01:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 11 Northwestern opened up Big Ten play with a 2-1 win at Indiana fueled by two goals from senior Eva van Agt.

Van Agt scored twice in the span of two minutes in the middle of the first half for her second multi-goal game of her career. Her previous two-goal game came against Kent State on Sept. 18, 2016. The senior now has three goals and three assists on the season.

.@NUFHCats open Big Ten play by defeating Indiana 2-1. Hear from head coach Tracey Fuchs about the victory! #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/BtOnbZzsK0
— BTN Student U (@BTNStudentU) September 14, 2018

The Wildcats moved to 5-3 on the season and 1-0 in Big Ten play. They improved to 15-9 all-time against Indiana as well.

Senior Puck Pentenga earned the lone assist of the game for the 'Cats and improved her point total to a team-high 17 with six goals and five assists.

Junior Annie Kalfas started in net and made two saves while allowing just one goal. She earned her fourth win of the season, and the team is 5-0 when she starts in net.

Northwestern outshot the Hoosiers 13-8 and manufactured seven penalty corners, compared to just four for the hosts.

The 'Cats picked up their first corner five minutes into the contest but Pentenga's shot was saved by the Hoosier keeper Sachi Ananias. Senior Charlotte Vaziri had another corner ten minutes later but her shot was blocked.

The Wildcats exploded for a two-minute stretch that ultimately put the game away. A deflection in the midfield popped to van Agt at the top of the penalty circle. She shimmied through two defenders and then sent the goalkeeper to the ground while firing her shot the other direction to take a 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, van Agt struck again on the 'Cats only successful corner of the afternoon. Mansfield served to Conley, who made a short pass to Pentenga. The senior rolled in a shot towards goal, forcing Ananias to go to ground, but van Agt snuck her stick onto the ball and popped it right over the keeper to make it 2-0.

The rest of the game was an extremely chippy affair, with five green cards and two yellow cards, with five of the seven going against the Hoosiers. Indiana got a goal back with 12 minutes to play and put the pressure on the Wildcat defense in the closing stages.

Pentenga was assessed a yellow card with 4:29 to go in the game, and Indiana compounded the advantage by pulling their goalkeeper in search of an equalizer. The match reached its tipping point on an Indiana penalty corner with 1:51 to play but the NU defense forced the ensuing shot wide, and saw out the match.

Chicago's Big Ten Team continues its road trip on Sunday against No. 8 Louisville, in a rematch of the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament, which the #B1GCats won in overtime.

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