EVANSTON, Ill. - Powered by a hat trick from Olivia Bent-Cole, the No. 2 Northwestern field hockey team brought down No. 1 Maryland on Thursday night, winning 4-2 at Lakeside Field.
The Wildcats (15-1, 6-0 Big Ten) overcame 0-1 and 1-2 deficits and had trailed at the start of the fourth quarter. However, three goals from senior forward Bent-Cole — including two in the fourth quarter — brought the ‘Cats back into the game and later to the lead. Then, junior midfielder Sol Martinez sealed the win with the game’s final goal.
“What a second half,” Head Coach Tracey Fuchs said postgame. “We had some career performances today, with [Bent-Cole.] I think the performance was great. I couldn’t be more proud of how we came out. We worked our tails off today. They were moving the ball so fast and so well, and we really were able to put some home at the end.”
Bent-Cole’s performance, which Fuchs said was the best of the forward’s career, was her first-career hat trick.
Northwestern outshot Maryland 10-9 and had a greater 7-3 differential in shots on goal. Maryland drew seven corners compared to NU’s four, but the ‘Cats converted on half of their attempts.
With Thursday’s win, Northwestern is now the only undefeated team in Big Ten play, earning its 34th-straight regular-season conference victory. It also snapped Maryland’s 14-game win streak in 2026, handing the Terps their first loss of the year.
Maryland struck first in the opening quarter. After the team drew a penalty corner in the 11th minute, a dragflick from Babs Van Hest led to a deflected shot from Ella Beach, which put the Terrapins on top early. However, the ‘Cats responded just three minutes later, with fifth-year Aerin Krys finding Bent-Cole to open NU’s scoring.
It took until the final two minutes of the second quarter for a team to get another shot on goal, but Maryland made the most of it. On its second penalty corner attempt of the day, Jordyn Hollamon received the ball and struck it straight into the net, helping her team reclaim a lead, up 2-1 into the break.
The first half saw relatively few opportunities from both teams. Maryland outshot Northwestern just 4-2, and the three shots on goal combined for both teams were all goals resulting from penalty corner attempts.
In the third quarter, Maryland generated four more penalty corners, but none were successful. The final three were consecutive attempts — the first two of the three were misses from the Terrapins, while the third led to Northwestern regaining possession. On that possession, Van Hest received a yellow card for fouling NU first-year Kiera Sack, putting the ‘Cats up a player to start the fourth quarter.
Fuchs said that after Maryland went 2-for-2 on corners in the first half, Northwestern’s defense made several halftime adjustments. Bent-Cole also emphasized the need to remain high-energy throughout a night game, with the team upping its press to ensure Maryland wouldn’t score after halftime.
“We adjusted our trials, especially on the right side, to push up to try to get their tippers,” Fuchs said. “Our flyers need to take one for the team and just try to run down the line and get hit. And I thought we did a great job defending.”
Northwestern capitalized on its player-up advantage immediately to start the fourth quarter. Senior Ashley Sessa gave NU the ball by deflecting a Maryland pass, which eventually led to Bent-Cole scoring her second of the game from the outer right edge of the goal circle in the 46th minute.
Bent-Cole found the net again just over six minutes later. Northwestern drew three consecutive penalty corner attempts and capitalized on the third, with Tromp feeding Bent-Cole to give NU a 3-2 lead. That lead extended to two goals in the 55th minute, when Martinez booked her fifth goal of the season after a resilient Sessa drive into the circle.
Maryland got one more corner opportunity in the 57th minute, but Van Hest’s shot got stopped by NU goalkeeper Juliana Boon. Shutting out the Terrapins in the second half, Northwestern's fourth-quarter efforts were enough to propel it to a 4-2 victory.
“I think it’s a good test for us to be down and to score, and then they score again,” Bent-Cole said. “That’s really good for us, especially going into the postseason. Playing against Princeton taught us — we were up, and then we ended up losing. So in this instance, it was really back and forth.”
Up Next
Northwestern returns to Lakeside Field for its home regular season finale on Sunday, Oct. 25 to face Rutgers. The match, which will be Senior Day for the Wildcats, will take place at 12 p.m. CT and be streamed on B1G+.