Northwestern finished 6-4 in the Big Ten, which was one of two conferences to place as many as six teams in the NCAA tournament 48-team field. Of the six, only Northwestern and conference champion Penn State reached the tournament's third round. The Wildcats, ranked No. 20 entering the tournament, were making their second appearance in the NCAAs.
This year, NU earned its first-ever NCAA tournament victory by beating Evansville, 2-1, in overtime on a header by freshman forward Katie Hertz. In the second round, Northwestern played its highest-scoring game of the season, winning, 5-4 in a seesaw battle at Baylor. Junior midfielder Erica Westrich, the 1998 Big Ten Player of the Year, drove and scored the winning goal with only five minutes remaining in regulation. The win put Northwestern into the round of 16, the only team in the field who had won road games in the tournament's opening rounds.
In the third round, Northwestern travelled to Gainesville, Fla., to face eventual national champion Florida. The Wildcats held the No. 3 Gators at bay as sophomore goalkeeper Erin Ekeberg made a career-high 13 saves. Still, Florida senior Danielle Fotopoulos, the NCAA all-time goal leader, put in an unassisted goal in the 43rd minute, which was all her team needed, going on to win 1-0.
Northwestern finished 5-2-1 against ranked opponents, its two biggest wins coming at home against then-No. 10 Michigan, 4-2, and then-No. 6 Penn State, 1-0. NU was the only Big Ten team all season to defeat the Nittany Lions, who won the Big Ten Tournament and made it to the NCAA quarterfinal round. The Wildcats' win over Michigan was their sixth of a nine-game winning streak, which including five-straight wins against Big Ten teams. NU finished the season winning six of seven games. The squad was undefeated in home games (8-0-1) and lost only to Florida in nonconference games (8-1-1).
For her team's efforts, head coach Marcia McDermott was one of six recognized as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas Women's College Regional Coach of the Year. Westrich and senior defender Kristen Palmer were selected first-team All-Big Ten. Soccer Buzz magazine tabbed Westrich a third-team All-American while Palmer was honorable mention.
Palmer was selected the team's MVP by her teammates. She took virtually all the team's free kicks for the year, leading the team in scoring with five goals and 11 assists. Katie Hertz, the team's second-leading scorer, was selected as Rookie of the Year. Of Hertz' seven goals, three were overtime game-winners. All came in the second half or later. Sophomore forward Brooke Bell, who started regularly for the first time this season, was the team's scoring leader most of the year. She finished with seven goals and four assists, and was named MVP Offense. Westrich was the MVP midfield selection, while Ekeberg earned honors for MVP Defense. The Most Improved award went to sophomore defender Shay Unterreiner, who was a critical postseason loss for the Wildcats after she injured her ankle in practice.
The Gift of Fury award went to the always-hustling senior midfielder Kathy Zimmerman, and McDermott issued Coaches Awards to senior forward Dionna Latimer and senior midfielder Erin Aubry.