Oct. 12, 2008

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. - Sophomore forward Matt Eliason tallied a pair of first-half goals which No. 2 Northwestern made stand up the rest of the way in a 2-1 win over Wisconsin at the McClimon Complex Sunday afternoon.

The victory keeps the Wildcats undefeated on the season at 10-0-2 and alone atop the Big Ten standings at 3-0-0 in conference play. The Badgers fall to 5-5-2 and 0-3-1.

Eliason, who entered the week just one behind the nation's leaders in goal scoring, raised his team-best total to 11. He is now tied with Michigan State's Doug DeMartin for the Big Ten lead. The 11 goals are a tie for the sixth-best season mark in Northwestern history and are the most since Gerardo Alvarez posted 12 in 2004.

Eliason cashed in the match's first goal at the 31:45 mark when he was able split the back line of the Wisconsin defense, took a feed from Brian Usinger and finished past Badger keeper Alex Horwath from 15 yards out.

It only took the Wildcats three and a half more minutes to build upon their lead. Carl Pett played a service to the back of the six-yard box to Eliason who finished past Horwath for what proved to be his sixth-game winning goal of the season.

Northwestern would eventually carry the 2-0 lead into the half as it out-shot the Badgers 6-4 over the opening 45 minutes of play.

Wisconsin put the pressure on NU in the second half as one shot hit a post and two more were saved by Misha Rosenthal before the Badgers finally cut Northwestern's lead in half at 65:44. Scott Lorenz scored on a header off assists from Austin Spohn and Andy Miller.

With five minutes remaining in regulation, UW forced Rosenthal to make a pair of saves and earned consecutive corner kicks, but the Wildcats were able to hold the Badgers at bay to remain undefeated.

Rosenthal came up big for Northwestern in goal, making a season-high seven saves. NU had a slight 13-12 edge in shots in the contest, while Wisconsin had a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Wildcats take this week off from competiton before returning to action Wednesday, Oct. 22 when they host Northern Illinois.