Nov. 7, 2004
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MADISON, Wis. -- Junior Kevin Earnest (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) scored with 6:04 remaining to vault Northwestern to a 2-1 win over Wisconsin Sunday and earn a third-place finish in the Big Ten.
Northwestern's overall record improves to 12-4-2 with the win, 3-2-1 in the Big Ten. The third-place finish is the highest ever for the Wildcats, who placed behind conference co-champions Indiana and Ohio State.
NU finishes the regular season with its most ever wins over Division I opponents, and needs two more to tie the school mark for wins (14) set by the 1988 squad.
The Wildcats jumped on top early against Wisconsin on a pure hustle play by Brad North (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands). In the 10th minute, North charged in front of the UW goalkeeper attempting to clear the ball, deflecting it toward the goal where he finished the score.
Wisconsin would equalize in the 18th minute, and then the goalkeepers took over. NU's Justin Pines (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) and UW's Eric Hanson each made six saves and kept the score tied at 1-1 until the 83rd minute.
That was when Northwestern freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) found North on the wing. North then carried the ball to the endline and crossed it to the back post for Earnest to finish and give the Wildcats the 2-1 winning advantage.
The assist was Roth's 11th on the season, extending his own Northwestern single-season record.
Northwestern now enters the Big Ten Tournament at Ann Arbor, Mich., as the No. 3 seed, facing No. 6 seed Penn State at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11.