Nov. 20, 2009

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Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)

EVANSTON, Ill. - Ninth-seeded Northwestern makes its fifth NCAA tournament appeareance in the last six years Sunday as it hosts Notre Dame in a second-round matchup at Lakeside Field. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Live streaming video and Gametracker can be accessed via NUsports.com.

Tickets cost $8 for adults and $5 for students. As a special thank you for their support all season, the first 100 NU undergraduate students who attend the contest will receive a voucher for admission to the contest courtesy of head coach Tim Lenahan and the Wildcats.

NCAA Tournament History
Northwestern is 6-4-1 all-time in NCAA tournament play. NU has advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals twice (2006, 2008) in the last three seasons, joining Notre Dame and Wake Forest as the only three teams to do so over that time frame. All five of the Wildcats' NCAA tournament appearances have come in the last six seasons.

Scouting Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish (11-7-4, 8-3-0 Big East) posted a 2-1 home win over Green Bay in a first-round matchup behind goals by Bright Dike and Jeb Brovsky. Notre Dame fell to St. John's in the Big East championship game 5-3 on penalty kicks after the teams played to a scoreless tie. Dike, the Big East Offensive Player of the Year, leads Notre Dame with 11 goals and 25 points this season. Philip Tuttle (0.71 gaa, .743 save %) and Andrew Quinn (1.14 gaa, .755 save %) have split time in goal for the Irish.

Series Information
Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Northwestern 10-2-1. The Wildcats defeated the 12th-seeded Fighting Irish in the second round of last year's NCAA tournament 2-1 in South Bend. Oliver Kupe netted a pair of second-half goals--the first two of his collegiate career--to lead NU to victory.

Postseason Honors
Senior defender Mark Blades and junior forward Matt Eliason were each named unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selections when the squads were announced. Eliason leads the Big Ten with 13 goals this season, while Blades has helped the NU defense post six shutouts while contributing four assists. Both players were also named this week to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Season second team. Defender Chris Ritter and midfielder Kyle Schickel were also named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Schickel was an honorable mention pick to the Top Drawer Soccer All-Freshman Team.

NU vs. the Tournament Field
Northwestern is an impressive 5-1-3 this season against teams in the NCAA tournament field. The Wildcats have defeated Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Tulsa and Western Illinois while falling to Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament and tying Drake, Green Bay and Penn State.

Going Streaking
Northwestern saw its 10-match unbeaten streak come to an end in a 2-1 overtime loss to Wisconsin Oct. 17. The Wildcats went 7-0-3 over the span. It is the second-longest unbeaten stretch in school history, trailing only last year's team which opened the season 11-0-2.

Eliason's Stellar Season
Few players in the nation can boast the season that Northwestern junior forward Matt Eliason has had. A year ago, he was named to the All-Big Ten first team and the All-Great Lakes Region second team after leading the team with 12 goals and 25 points. Eliason has scored 13 goals this season, including seven in the team's first four matches, and was named a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten pick. After scoring two goals apiece against against Oakland and Tulsa Sept. 11 and 13, he was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Top Drawer Soccer's National Player of the Week. College Soccer News rewarded with another National Player of the Week honor Oct. 26 after he posted game-winning goals against both Loyola Chicago and Indiana. Eliason's 30 career goals are tied with Jonathan Hall (1986-89) for the school record. He has also gotten the job done in the classroom as he was recently named an ESPN the Magazine Second-Team Academic All-American.

Down to the Wire
Of Northwestern's 18 matches this season, 17 have been decided by one goal or less. Only a 2-0 victory over Indiana Oct. 25 is NU's lone match this season hasn't ended in a tie or a one-goal differential. Eight of the team's matches have gone to overtime, with the Wildcats posting a 2-2-4 record in those contests.

Blades Rakes in Preseason Honors
Senior defender Mark Blades, considered one of the top left back players in the country, earned preseason recognition this season from a variety of organizations. He was named a preseason second-team All-American by College Soccer News and is one of 38 players nationally named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually to the nation's top collegiate soccer player. Blades was also recognized for his efforts both on and off the field by being named one of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence--classroom, character, community and competition. A second-team All-Big Ten pick, a first-team NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region selection and a third-team NSCAA All-American a year ago, Blades was named a first-team All-BIg Ten selection this season.

Solid Between the Pipes
Misha Rosenthal came into his senior season having already established himself as the top goalkeeper in Northwestern history. A two-time second-team All-Big Ten pick, he ranks first in school history with 29 shutouts, including a school-record 13 a year ago. Seven of the shutouts came consecutively over one early-season stretch during which NU held its opponents scoreless over an amazing span of 805 minutes and 30 seconds of action. Rosenthal finished the 2008 campaign ranked fourth in the country with a 0.48 goals-against average and 13th with a .851 save percentage. Since returning from injury that sidelined him for the matches against Drake and SIU Edwardsville, Rosenthal has posted four shutouts in the team's seven matches. After recording seven saves in a blanking of No. 15 Ohio State, Rosenthal was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. He earned the honor again for the second time this season and the fifth time in his career Oct. 26 after he notched shutout wins over Loyola Chicago and Indiana.

Head Coach Tim Lenahan
Tim Lenahan is in his ninth season at the helm at Northwestern as the architect of a program that has undergone a metamorphosis from an also-ran to a national power. He inherited a program that had won a total of four Big Ten matches in the 10 years prior to his arrival and turned it into one that has reached the NCAA tournament in four of the last five seasons. The team has advanced to the NCAA quarterfinal round two of the last three years. Lenahan has an 91-67-23 record at Northwestern and is 217-135-41 mark in 20 seasons overall as a head coach. A 1983 graduate of Richard Stockton College, Lenahan coached for eight seasons at his alma mater and for three more at Lafayette before coming to Evanston.

Going Four It
This year's senior class accomplished something no other class in school history has done--reach the NCAA tournament each year of their collegiate careers. All five of Northwestern's NCAA tournament appearances have come in the last five seasons (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). This year's group is also the winningest class in school history having notched 51 wins. The record-breaking victory came in the regular-season finale, a 1-0 win over Michigan State Nov. 7. The 51 wins surpass last year's senior class which won 50 contests.

Reaching New Heights
Picked to finish second in this year's preseason Big Ten poll, Northwestern finished exactly in that spot, tied with Penn State. The second-place finish is the Wildcats' best in program history. NU's 3-2-1 mark against conference foes matches the 2004 and 2007 teams for the program's best Big Ten record in a season.

Kupe's Contributions
Sophomore forward Oliver Kupe has established himself as one of the top table-setters in the Big Ten this season. Kupe is tied with Michigan State's Jeff Ricando for the conference lead with seven assists in 2009. He posted five assists in the team's first four matches this season, recording at least one assist in each of the four contests. Kupe burst on to the scene in the second round of last year's NCAA tournament when he tallied a pair of second-half goals (the first two of his collegiate career) in a 2-1 win at 12th-seeded Notre Dame.

Up Next...
The winner of Sunday's contest advances to the third round next Sunday where it will take on the winner of the match between eighth-seeded Tulsa and Saint Louis.