Oct. 28, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Ninth-ranked Northwestern tied its winningest Big Ten regular season ever Sunday afternoon as it posted a key 2-0 victory over No. 16 Michigan State at Lakeside Field. The win allowed the Wildcats to finish Big Ten play with a 3-2-1 mark, tying the 2004 squad's conference record.
The victory also gave NU (10-3-2) its third double-digit win season in the last four years. Michigan State fell to 11-2-3 overall and 2-2-1 in Big Ten play.
After dropping a heart-breaking 2-1 double-overtime decision at Northern Illinois Wednesday, the Wildcats were in need of a victory to snap a season-long three-match winless streak.
"This was a great result for us, especially after as poorly as we played Wednesday," Northwestern head coach Tim Lenahan said. "It was nice to see the guys respond."
The Wildcats started the scoring just six minutes and 20 seconds into the contest as Carl Pett made a run into the box and then delivered a perfect feed to his left for Piero Bellizzi who deposited his fourth goal of the season past Spartan keeper Chris Austin.
Northwestern nearly made it 2-0 moments later, but Austin was able to deny David Roth on the doorstep to keep MSU's deficit at one. Michigan State's best chance of the match came just under 10 minutes into the contest as the Spartans managed a shot on goal, but Roth was waiting on the far post to prevent the tying score. The Wildcats would eventually carry the 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Bellizzi nearly had his second goal of the game in the 71st minute, but Austin made a great save at point-blank range to keep NU's lead at one. However, with the Michigan State pressing forward, the Wildcats finally got their insurance goal at the 85:40 mark. Matt Eliason won the ball at the midfield and made a feed ahead to Eamon O'Neill who finished off the breakaway to seal the win for the Wildcats.
The win was the ninth shutout of the season for Northwestern, breaking the previous single-season record of eight set just a year ago. Justin Pines, who recently rejoined the men's soccer program while also competing for the football team, made one save to get the win in his first start and first appearance of the season.
The Wildcats finished with a 12-8 advantage in shots, while both teams had five corner kicks apiece.
NU is back in action at 3 p.m. Wednesday as it hosts Western Illinois.