Baekers Four Goals Lead No. 1 Northwestern Past No. 22 Maine

Sunday, August 28

Amherst, MA

12 P.M. CT

Northwestern

(1-0)

#22 Maine

(0-2)

MAINE

Photo by: Ryan Kuttler / NUSports.com

Baekers Four Goals Lead No. 1 Northwestern Past No. 22 Maine

8/28/2022 1:44:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. – No. 1 Northwestern beat No. 22 Maine 5-1 Sunday behind a career-high four goals from fifth-year forward Bente Baekers. The win marks the fourth season opening victory for the Wildcats and their fifth in the last six years to kick of their defense of the 2021 national title.

Scoreless coming out of halftime, Baekers scored three goals in the span of nine minutes to put Northwestern in front 3-0 in the 43rd minute. Reaching three goals in one quarter secured Baekers eighth collegiate hat trick. She added a fourth in the 55th minute to become the first Northwestern player to score four goals in a game since Pascale Massey accomplished the feat against Central Michigan in 2016.

Her first goal of the game also brought her to 141 career points, breaking a tie with Sannie Van Dijk for second place in career points in Northwestern history. Chelsea Armstrong ranks first with 238 career points.

Baekers has now scored eight goals across three contests all time against Maine.

National champions doing national champion things ??

Relive all five Northwestern goals from today's season opening win: pic.twitter.com/CnnbJEvXJf
— Northwestern Field Hockey (@NUFHCats) August 28, 2022

Peyton Halsey also fired home for Northwestern, scoring her first goal of the season and her first goal since September 10, 2021. Halsey has now scored a goal in three consecutive season openers.
Lauren Wadas, Kaylas Blas, Ana Medina Garcia and Lane Herbert all recorded assists.

The win brings Northwestern to 4-2 all time against the Black Bears and marks the second straight win in the all-time series for Northwestern. The Wildcats won 5-0 when the teams met in Evanston last season.

Northwestern outshot Maine 25-6, including an 11-1 edge on shots on goal. The Wildcats kept Maine scoreless until the 53rd minute when the Black Bears broke up the shutout. Goalkeeper Annabel Skubisz already ranks ninth in Northwestern history in career shutouts with six.

Chicago's Big Ten Team is back in action in Amherst, Massachusetts again tomorrow to take on host UMass. Game time is slated for noon CT. There will be no video stream of the game.