UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Northwestern's shot at the second straight Big Ten regular season title took a hit on Friday afternoon as the eighth-ranked Wildcats suffered a 2-1 loss at No. 5 Penn State.
NU would need a victory by Iowa at Maryland on Saturday to earn a piece of the conference title.
The 'Cats and the Nittany Lions locked horns in an excellent battle but All-American Laura Gebhart's goal with 6:26 remaining in regulation was the difference.
Northwestern goalkeeper Maddy Carpenter came up big in the first half to keep the match close. Penn State nearly took the lead just over eight minutes into the contest off a penalty corner, but the initial shot hit off the post before Carpenter made a save to keep the game scoreless.
The hosts eventually broke through at 21:03 as PSU leading scorer Taylor Herold scored off of Gebhart's assist.
The Nittany Lions earned the majority of the scoring chances in the opening half, but a late surge by the Wildcats paid off. In the closing seconds of the stanza, Northwestern earned a penalty corner. With time expired in the period, the 'Cats were allowed to play out the corner and Dominique Masters found Caroline Troncelliti who beat PSU goalie Kylie Licata to make it 1-1 at the intermission.
The momentum shift carried over to the start of the second half as NU came out flying over the opening 10 minutes of play. However, the Wildcats were unable to break through with the go-ahead goal against the Nittany Lions' stingy defense.
Over the next nearly 20 minutes of play, scoring chances proved to be few and far between for both squads and the majority of the action took place in the midfield.
As the closing minutes of regulation approached, it was a restart that led to the decisive goal. Gebhart played the ball on the restart, possessed it past a Northwestern defender and then fired a rocked on goal that Carpenter got a piece of with her stick but couldn't prevent from going in.
Needing a goal to force overtime, the Wildcats pulled Carpenter for an extra attacker with two and a half minutes left, but Northwestern was unable to tally as Penn State earned the win in its home finale.
The Wildcats return to action at noon Sunday when they host Kent State at Lakeside Field. Carpenter, Kelsey Thompson and Kristin Wirtz will be honored in pregame Senior Day ceremonies.