Oct. 10, 2008

NU Women's Soccer Game Notes (vs. Indiana)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- After their first road trip of Big Ten season, the Wildcats will open a three-match home stand at Lakeside Field by hosting the Indiana Hoosiers at 1 p.m. Sunday. Gametracker and live streaming video will be available on NUsports.com.

Scouting Indiana
Indiana sits at 0-4 in the Big Ten after losses last weekend to Iowa and Minnesota. All four of Indiana's losses have been by 1-0 scores. The Hoosiers are coming off a loss at Iowa and an overtime loss at Minnesota. Liz Holby and Chloe McKay lead the team in points with nine each. Holby holds the team lead in goals with four and McKay leads the way in helpers with three. Kelly Lawrence has three goals with a perfect 2-2 mark on penalty kicks. Lauren Hollandsworth has started seven games while Lindsay Campbell has started all four Big Ten games. Campbell maintains a 0.85 GAA.

Series Information
The all-time series with Indiana is knotted at 7-7-2. This will be Indiana's first visit to Evanston since 2005 when the Hoosiers won a 1-0 contest. In 2006, the Wildcats took a 1-0 decision and the Hoosiers won a tight, 4-3 match, last season in Bloomington. The 2006 win was Stephanie Erickson's first over a ranked opponent as the head coach of her alma mater. It was the first win over a ranked team since 2004 and broke a 13-game home unbeaten streak for the Hoosiers.

Last Time Out
No. 25 Penn State's goal in the opening minutes of the second half proved to be the difference Friday night as the Nittany Lions defeated the Wildcats, 1-0. Carolyn Edwards was again stout between the pipes, stopping eight shots--including five in the first half. NU stayed on the road for another Big Ten contest at Ohio State. A Buckeye goal in the third minute of the game held up as Northwestern was unable to solve the OSU defense and lost a 1-0 decision. Paige Maxwell of Ohio State found herself in a one-on-one situation with an NU defender and converted the opportunity from 17 yards out. Senior defender Laura Janowitsch led NU with four shots and forced Ohio State's only save.

Senior Getting The Job Dunn
Senior Jenny Dunn's assist on Jeanette Lorme's game-winning goal against Illinois was her fifth of the season and the 15th of her career and puts her in a third-place tie with head coach Stephanie Erickson on NU's all-time list. With 15 career goals, Dunn is the `Cats' active leader in the category. She is one goal from cracking NU's top-10. With 45 career points, Dunn sits eighth on NU's all-time points list.

First Time In A Long Time
Although the Wildcats have played many close contests with in-state foe Illinois, NU's win over the 17th-ranked Illini on 9/28 marked the first win for NU over Illinois since 1998. The `Cats recorded three ties in that span including a scoreless tie last season. The last time the `Cats defeated Illinois, NU won six conference games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

Hoffman Wearing A New Hat
Senior Amanda Hoffman entered the season with zero goals and only one assist through three seasons on the Wildcats. She has turned into a major offensive contributor in her senior season and leads the Wildcats in both goals (5) and points (10). Hoffman, who has started all 13 games, led the Wildcats back from a 2-0 deficit with a three-goal hat trick against DePaul. The hat trick marked the first for the `Cats since 2004. Hoffman has been economical with her opportunities as well, recording five goals on eight shots on goal.

Distributing the Wealth
With Jeanette Lorme's goal against Illinois, eight different Wildcats have scored goals and 12 `Cats have notched points on 18 total goals. 11 Wildcats have at least one assist on the season out of 22 total helpers. Senior Amanda Hoffman leads the way with 10 points (5g, 0a). Jenny Dunn (2g, 4a) and Sam Greene (2g, 4a) are right behind her with nine points each. Alicia Herczeg has seven (2g, 3a) while Laura Janowitsch (2g, 1a), Emily Langston (2g, 1a) each have five.

Valuable Reserve
Junior Jessica Palo has appeared in all 13 games off the bench for the Wildcats and has been active on the offensive end. Palo has one goal and one assist on the year to go with five shots. Palo's goal against San Diego was her first since 2006 when she appeared in 15 games and started three. Jennifer Baumann, Kirstyn Atkinson and Ali Rubnitz have appeared in 12-of-13 games.

Goals From the Back Line
Senior defender Laura Janowitsch has used her senior season to break into the goal-scoring column. Janowitsch scored a goal from a free kick near midfield in NU's season-opening win over Nebraska for her first-career goal. The defender scored the game-winner for the Wildcats in their 3-2 overtime win over Pepperdine.

Second-Half Firepower
Eleven of NU's 18 goals have been scored after halftime. In the season-opener against Nebraska, the Wildcats put up four goals in route to a 4-3 win at Lakeside Field. NU's lone goal in a 1-0 win over Illinois State in the Lakeside Invitational came early in the second half while all three of NU's goals in a 3-2 overtime win over Pepperdine came after the break. NU registered one second-half goal against Loyola and Amanda Hoffman's hat trick against DePaul featured three second-half goals. Alicia Herczeg's goal against Milwaukee came late in the second half on Wednesday.

For Northwestern's complete game notes, click the .pdf link above.