Sept. 12, 2008
Box Score
DeKALB, Ill. -
Sophomore Matt Eliason (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) posted Northwestern's third hat trick in school history and the first in 11 years as the Wildcats opened play at the NIU/adidas Invitational with a 3-0 win over Eastern Illinois on Friday afternoon. All three goals came in the second half.
With the win, the 14th-ranked Wildcats improve to 4-0-1 on the season, while Eastern Illinois falls to 3-2-0.
Eliason's hat trick is the first since Patrick Eggen accomplished the feat against North Park Oct. 24, 1997. Andrew McDermott was the first Wildcat to tally three goals in a match, doing so Oct. 21, 1995 against UIC.
The team's battled through a scoreless first half with NU junior Mark Blades (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Ignatius) coming the closest to score for either team when his header late in the period hit the crossbar.
The 'Cats had a 10-6 advantage in shots and a 4-1 edge in corner kicks over the opening 45 minutes of play.
Soon after the intermission, Eliason took over. Just over five minutes into the second half, Eliason took a feed from Brian Usinger (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) and beat Panthers' goalkeeper Mark Hansen to put NU on the board first.
It only took Eliason a little less than three minutes later to give Northwestern an insurance goal. Once again, Usinger set him up to put the Wildcats up 2-0 at the 53:13 mark.
Eastern Illinois put some pressure on NU keeper Misha Rosenthal (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) in the second period, but the junior made three saves after the break to hold the Panthers at bay.
With just under four minutes remaining in the match, Eliason put the icing on the cake. He took a feed from Tyler Voigt (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) and found the back of the net for the third time in the match to tie the school record for goals in a match.
The three tallies raised Eliason's team-leading goal total to five this season. Rosenthal made four saves overall in the match to earn his fourth shutout in five games.
Northwestern returns to action at noon Sunday when it faces Xavier in DeKalb.