Northwestern
6-8-3, 3-5-0
Maryland
12-3-2, 5-2-1
Wildcats Stun No. 10 Maryland in Penalty Kicks
11/7/2021 3:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Wildcats knocked off the second seed in the tournament to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday at No. 3 seed Indiana. Kickoff is TBA.
"Shock and awe in college soccer."
— Northwestern MSoccer (@NUMensSoccer) November 7, 2021
The moment your 'Cats pulled off the stunner!#GoCats | @NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/KU7EQN8Ham
"It comes down to belief and from the first moment of the game I could tell these guys believed we were going to win this game," said head coach Russell Payne. "They focused on winning each moment – 90 one minute winning streaks is what we talked about, and it went to 110 minutes and penalty kicks and we stayed focused. I couldn't be prouder of the entire team effort, from guys who played, guys who didn't play, everyone stepped up and made a difference. Now we have to regroup, and we have to be ready to do it again on Wednesday."
The hero of the match for Northwestern was graduate goalkeeper Miha Miskovic, who made a career high 10 saves in regulation including a penalty kick save, before saving two more penalty kicks in the deciding shootout.
The goal scorers in the shootout for Northwestern were Spencer Farina, Richie Bennett and Rom Brown.
It was a collected team effort for the Wildcats, with another strong performance from the backline of Deng Deng Kur, Farina and Quinn Dudek. Collin McCamy had another excellent performance on the left side as well and stood out as one of the best players on the field.
The 'Cats last advanced to the conference tournament semifinals in 2019. They faced Indiana earlier this season at Martin Stadium behind a sellout crowd, and led 1-0 behind a goal from Vicente Castro before ultimately falling 2-1. The third seeded Hoosiers are ranked 22nd in the country.
