Nov. 19, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Surrounded by the kind of weather perhaps better suited for the San Francisco Bay, Northwestern woke up from an early fog of its own to score four unanswered goals and advance past Western Illinois, 4-1, to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats will face No. 14-seeded Creighton -- which received a bye in the first round -- at 7 p.m. CST Tuesday in Omaha, Neb.
With the win, Northwestern improves its record to 15-5-2, setting a new school record for wins in a season. Western Illinois -- the Mid-Continent Conference tournament champion -- falls to 11-10-0.
"Not only were we excited to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but now we have also won a game," NU head coach Tim Lenahan said. "Some big things happened today with us breaking the school wins record."
With haze and constant drizzle enveloping the field, the Wildcats got off to a slow start and Western Illinois capitalized early. Nowaf Jaman hit a bicycle kick in the box at the 9:42 mark to put the Leathernecks up, 1-0.
"The first 10 or 12 minutes we seemed too concerned with the mist and the fog," Lenahan said. "After they scored, we turned it up and kept attacking until the very last minute."
Not just attacking, but scoring too.
Northwestern evened the score just three minutes later when sophomore John Carlstedt (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit) touched a ball that a WIU defender had trouble playing, putting it into the net for an own goal.
"You could just feel that goal coming," Lenahan said. "We were getting after it and we knew a goal would be scored in the next few minutes."
Sophomore Brad North (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) put the Wildcats up for good in the 31st minute, heading in a ball from sophomore Gerardo Alvarez (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy). Freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) also assisted on the play.
Roth's assist gives him 14 for the season, tying the Big Ten single-season record shared by a trio of Indiana Hoosiers: Wane Lobring, Todd Yeagley and Yuri Lavrinenko.
Alvarez's point in the match gives him 58 for his career, moving the sophomore into third-place all-time at Northwestern in scoring.
North would add his second goal in the 62nd minute when a Leatherneck defender misplayed a clearance and North put it into an empty net to put the Wildcats up by two.
North's two goals give him nine on the season. He leads the team with five match-winners.
Northwestern put the finishing touches on the match when a Dave Vargas (North Olmstead, Ohio/St. Ignatius) shot was deflected into the net by junior Eric Brin (Westlake, Calif./Westlake) in the 65th minute.
Sophomore Justin Pines (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) made four saves in goal for Northwestern. He has now allowed only one goal or less in his last six matches.