EVANSTON, Ill. (October 29, 2026) – As the race for postseason positioning intensifies, Northwestern (5-5-4, 2-3-3 B1G) closes out the road portion of its 2026 schedule on Friday evening, as it takes on Ohio State in a 6 p.m. CT kickoff at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
Currently in the midst of a three-game unbeaten run that includes results against a pair of top-10 foes, the Wildcats enter their penultimate contest of the regular season sitting three points back of No. 22 UCLA in the race for the sixth and final spot in November’s Big Ten Tournament.
LAST TIME OUT
Led by a standout showing from its defensive unit, Northwestern battled No. 4 Indiana to a scoreless stalemate last Friday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., snapping a 10-game home win streak for the Hoosiers. Following last week’s result, the Wildcats have now held opponents scoreless for just north of 190 consecutive minutes of game action.
For his efforts against Indiana, Fritz Volmar was named the Big Ten Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. Volmar, who earned his second weekly honor of 2026, played all 90 minutes as the Wildcats became only the second team to shutout the Hoosiers this season.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Currently mired in a four-game skid that has seen it slip back to the .500 mark, Ohio State (6-6-2, 1-4-1 B1G) gave No. 11 Maryland all it could handle last Saturday, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Terrapins at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md. Patrick McLaughlin turned in a standout showing in goal for the Buckeyes in the defeat, piling up a career-high nine saves. McLaughlin, who has appeared in 23 contests during his collegiate career, ranks fourth in the Big Ten Conference with a 1.11 goals against average and has four shutouts to his name this season.
Head coach Brian Maisonneuve’s team was buoyed by the return of star striker Isaiah Chisolm in its matchup with Maryland. An All-Sun Belt Conference pick last season at Kentucky, Chisolm racked up seven goals across his first four appearances as a Buckeye, highlighted by a hat trick versus Northern Kentucky, before missing 10 games due to injury.
Evansville transfer Martin Wurschmidt has established himself as a threat in the final third, finding the back of the net five times across his 14 appearances. Wurschmidt scored a brace in the Buckeyes’ lone conference win of 2026, a 2-1 triumph over Penn State on October 2. Aaron Hurge hasn’t skipped a beat after being named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman Team in 2025, tallying three goals and four assists, a latter mark which leads the Ohio State roster.