Northwestern
ICON Intercollegiate
This Week in Northwestern Athletics: Feb 22
2/22/2021 12:51:00 PM | General, Men's Soccer, Men's Tennis, Softball, Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming and Diving, Women's Tennis, Women's Volleyball, Field Hockey, Women's Fencing
Women's Swimming
Men's & Women's Diving
Softball (Opening Weekend)
Field Hockey (Opening Weekend)
Lacrosse
Women's Soccer
Men's Soccer
Women's Tennis
Volleyball
Men's Tennis
Fencing
Women's Golf
The Northwestern women head to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Big Ten Championships this week. The competition will be held at Minnesota's Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center from Tuesday to Saturday. Opening night relays begin at 5 p.m. CT Tuesday. Prelims will begin at 11 a.m. CT and finals will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT the next four days of the competition.
Chicago's Big Ten Team finished fourth at the 2020 Big Ten Championships, scoring 907.5 points, the most at the conference championships in program history. Calypso Sheridan took gold 400 IM and 200 breast last year to become Northwestern's first conference champion since 2008.
Northwestern is 4-2 this season and enters the postseason having won its last four-straight team matchups in the last two double dual meets. The 'Cats have secured 21 NCAA 'B' Cut times across 11 events this season, including four in the 100 breast. The 'Cats also bring a 400 medley relay team comprised of Emma Lepisova, Sophie Angus, Miriam Guevara and Maddie Smith to the Big Ten Championships that earned an NCAA 'A' Cut time of 3:31.11 against Illinois and Wisconsin.
Northwestern sends both its men's and women's diving teams to the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Indiana this week. The meet will be held at Purdue's Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center from Thursday to Saturday with prelims beginning at 11:20 a.m. CT and finals beginning at 2:10 p.m. CT each day. The 3M competition will take place Thursday, the platform competition will take place Friday and the 1M competition will take place Saturday.
Markie Hopkins took the Big Ten title in the platform dive as a first-year in 2020, becoming Northwestern's second diving champion in three years. Hopkins headlines Northwestern's women's diving team in West Lafayette this weekend along with Jaye Patrick, Leah Parsons and Labonita Ghose. Hopkins and Patrick have secured Zone Diving Standard scores in both the 1M and 3M while Ghose and Parsons have both earned Zone Diving Standard scores in the 3M.
The men will send a host of divers who have also achieved Zone Diving Standard scores this season, including Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson who holds the school record with 339.90 points in the 1M. Evan Labuda and Henry Schirmer have also secured Zone Diving Standard scores this season.
Northwestern softball kicks off its season this weekend with three double-headers in Leesburg, FL. The 'Cats will take on Michigan State for two games on Friday, Rutgers for two on Saturday, and a double-header with Penn State on Sunday to close the weekend.
The Wildcats have not seen the field since March 8 of last year, holding a 11-12 record before the season was cut short.
Northwestern had high hopes for last season and will carry the same expectations to this year. In 2019, the 'Cats last full season, they went 47-13 and reached the NCAA Super Regionals.
Eight of the Wildcats' 10 starters from the 2019 Super Regionals will return this season, including 2019 NFCA National Freshman of the Year Danielle Williams. Williams led the team in innings pitched and strikeouts during the truncated 2020 season, a year removed from posting one of the most dominant years in the circle in program history.
Also returning for this season are junior shortstop Maeve Nelson, who was tied for second in the conference in home runs (7) last year, and senior second baseman Rachel Lewis, the 'Cats active leader with 35 career home runs.
Northwestern field hockey returns to action this weekend for the first time since last season finished on Nov. 15, 2019. The 'Cats go to Virginia Beach to play Michigan State Saturday and Maryland Sunday. Start times for each game are to be announced.
Chicago's Big Ten Team finished last season 14-8 (5-3 Big Ten) and made its second trip to the NCAA Tournament in three seasons. The Wildcats outscored their opponents 65-34 in 2019, fueled by Bente Baekers 28 goals, the third most in the nation. Baekers enters her sophomore season in 2021 after being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earning a spot on the All-Big Ten first team.
Northwestern is set to play a 14-game conference-only schedule in 2021 with the Big Ten Tournament scheduled to begin April 20. The 'Cats will return to Evanston for their first home game on Mar. 12 against Indiana.
The Wildcats are set to play their first weekend series of the year this Friday and Sunday against Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. Start times are scheduled for noon CT Friday and 11 a.m. CT Sunday.
Northwestern won its first game of the season 23-7 over Ohio State on Valentine's Day. Izzy Scane blazed the way for the 'Cats with a new career-high nine goals while Lauren Gilbert fired six goals of her own. On the defensive end, Northwestern didn't allow a single goal until 6:52 into the second half.
Chicago's Big Ten Team scored goals at an historic pace in 2020 before the season was cut short, pouring in 21.6 goals per game which would've torched the NCAA record of 18.5 set in 2018. After scoring 23 against the Buckeyes, the 'Cats will try to keep the scoring clinic alive in Baltimore this weekend.
Northwestern women's soccer continues its season with two games this week. The 'Cats welcome Penn State to Ryan Fieldhouse on Thursday, Feb. 25, ath 7 p.m. CT and will host Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 28, at noon.
The Wildcats are coming off a 1-0 win over Indiana in their season-opener on Saturday. Sophomore Aurea Martin broke the deadlock with an 85th minute header goal. Junior Francesca Doctors and senior Regan Steigleder picked up assists on the game-winning goal.
The 'Cats defense was impenetrable, with junior goalie Mackenzie Wood picking up her tenth-career clean sheet after making four saves. Transfer junior Hallie Pearson and first-year Ella Hase fit in perfectly with returnees Danika Austin and Chloe McGee to form a formidable back line.
The men's soccer team heads to Madison on Tuesday, Feb. 23 to take on Wisconsin at 11 a.m. CT, and returns home for a showdown with Indiana at Ryan Fieldhouse on Saturday, Feb. 27 at noon.
The Wildcats fell to Michigan in their season opener on Friday night, the inaugural soccer game at Ryan Fieldhouse. First-year Joseph Arena scored his first career-goal 5:06 into the game, assisted by junior Bardia Kimiavi and sophomore Vicente Castro, but the 'Cats could not hold on to the early lead.
The No. 7 Wildcats host two matches this weekend. The 'Cats welcome Minnesota to the Combe Tennis Center on Thursday, Feb. 25, for a matchup at 4 p.m. CT, while Wisconsin comes to town on Sunday, Feb. 28, for a noon showdown.
The Wildcats improved to 7-1 on the season after defeating Illinois 6-1 on Sunday, and extended their win-streak to five in a row. After dropping the doubles point to open the match, the 'Cats swept the six singles matches. Maria Shusharina, Clarissa Hand, and Caroline Pozo all took out their opponents in two sets.
Northwestern returns home this weekend to play Iowa in its second home series of the year. The 'Cats and Hawkeyes are set to meet at Welsh-Ryan at 6 p.m. CT Friday and 5 p.m. CT Saturday.
The Wildcats are 2-2 on the season and are undefeated at home, having swept Rutgers 3-0 in back-to-back games on opening weekend in January. The two-game slate against Iowa is the first at home for Northwestern since returning from its pause in operations taken out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of players and staff.
No. 25 Northwestern has two road contests lined up for this weekend. The 'Cats head to Minneapolis on Friday, Feb. 26, to face Minnesota at 3 p.m. CT, then travel to Madison for a showdown with Wisconsin on Sunday, Feb. 28, at noon.
After falling to Ohio State in the conference opener on Friday, Northwestern picked up its first Big Ten victory on Sunday, defeating Penn State 6-1 to move to 2-2 on the season. Graduate student Dominik Stary earned his first victory of the season in the No. 1 spot.
Fencing
After going 2-2 this Sunday, the 'Cats are back for another Sunday morning slate of duals in Detroit, Michigan as Wayne State will be hosting the slate. Earlier this season on Feb. 14, the Wildcats dueled Wayne State, defeating the Warriors 27-0 and 26-1.
In their duals vs. Lawrence last Sunday, the Wildcats won 49 of the 54 bouts against the Vikings, with stellar performances from Sofia Simontov, Isabelle Banin, and Dhruthi Reddy. The foilers combined for 12-1 in their bouts. The senior Simontov has now won nine-consecutive bouts.
The last time NU traveled to Detroit for a competition was the NCAA Midwest Regionals. Justine Banbury went 9-5 in foil as a first-year.
Women's Golf
The Icon Invitational is underway in Houston, Texas. Northwestern is off to a good start this season, finishing top-five at the Heroes Ladies Intercollegiate and beating Ohio State in match play. The last time the 'Cats were down in Texas for a tournament, NU came away with a top-10 finish in the Challenge at Wolfdancer in 2008.
Irene Kim has followed her stellar rookie season with the 'Cats well, finishing top-15 at the Heroes Ladies Intercollegiate. Kim was joined in the top-15 by Kelly Su and Kelly Sim, who both tied for fifteenth at two over par.
During the first day of the Icon Invitational, Kim had a great first round, ending four-under and tied for third out of the 77 participants. Brooke Riley finished two-under and was tied for seventh after the first round.
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Players Mentioned
