Pitch Perfect, Week 3: Winging It

My final words in last week’s column described how I wanted a deluge of Northwestern goals in its next slate of games. Well, we got two goals, which isn’t great. Northwestern now holds a 2-2-1 record after a 1-1 tie with Illinois State and a 1-0 road win over Butler, which, again, isn’t spectacular. But who can blame the ‘Cats? The odds haven’t been in their favor in August. The question that’s been top of my mind: What Etsy witch has cast a spell on Michael Moynihan to let him lose this many calls — handballs, penalties, red cards and otherwise —  in a row? May September be better for Northwestern Women’s Soccer and everyone reading this. 

Soccer is a game of inches, they say — inches given and inches taken. Northwestern Women’s Soccer, in its most recent games against Illinois State and Butler, had to deal with both sides of the razor-thin margin coin.

Against Illinois State, Elle Phillips won a penalty for the ‘Cats in the 17th minute, only for the call to be overturned for Phillips’ marginal offside position. On the flip side, a massive miscommunication between Naomi Lofthouse and Holland Carey in the 25′ left Rylann Law wide open for a shot, only for the post to save the ‘Cats’ dignity.

Despite Nyamma Nelson’s early exit seven minutes later due to a handball call (and subsequent red card) outside the box, the game finished square at 1-1.

At Butler, Alex Fallon’s sublime 57th-minute strike was tipped away from the net by Bulldogs goalkeeper Addison Ash. One minute later, Ash again stopped Fallon on a penalty kick. Though the ‘Cats eventually bested the Dawgs 1-0, they got lucky as an Olivia Elliott handball in the box late in the second half went uncalled. 

It’s clear that the minute details have mattered for the ‘Cats. I argue, however, that Northwestern’s biggest problem on the attack right now isn’t a matter of inches, but rather yards of unused forward channel space.

Northwestern’s offense is stuck in the mud, and it’s odd to witness.

The ‘Cats Need to Look Forward

Northwestern has struggled to produce this season. The past two games saw the ‘Cats take 29 shots, 10 of which were on target and only two of which ended up in the back of the net. This slate of games brings Northwestern’s season total to a .298 shot to shot on goal ratio. Its opponents’ ratio, for context, sits at .366, and the level of opponent hasn’t been of the highest quality.

The most apparent reason for this underproduction is that Northwestern cannot connect (and finds it hard to create) on crosses and set pieces. This is a problem, especially considering Northwestern’s attack has long been built on outside players like Hennen and Norkett feeding into the center and the ball (more often than not) ending up at Kennedy Roesch’s feet.

Roesch’s exit from the Denver game with an apparent leg injury has shaken up the status quo for the Northwestern offense.

Northwestern needs to do one of two things to improve its goalscoring opportunities: (1) work on connection in the box, or (2) look for forward channels to create chances. 

The second option is interesting — and new — since Northwestern’s center-of-the-field personnel have improved so much since last fall. Keira Wagner has jumped onto the scene as someone who can carry the ball downfield. Alex Fallon and Holland Carey have both returned from injury and have made significant impacts in the middle of the field in creating chances (the duo has two points each so far this year). 

Combined with newcomers Lofthouse and Phillips, whom I’ve spoken extensively about, Northwestern’s center channel squad looks amazing. Northwestern needs to take advantage of its space in the middle of the field and its quick players like Wagner, O’Donnell, Hennen and Phillips more.

Well, what does that look like in reality? This means utilizing open forward lanes more often rather than laterally looking for chances near the corner flag. Sarah O’Donnell’s goal versus Illinois State was a prime example of how using width can create forward momentum without getting caught up in crossing semantics.

The play began with C.J. Roy finding Finnerty outside the box on the right side of the field, and Finnerty passing the ball up to Zimmerman.

Zimmerman performs a smart little La Croqueta around an Illinois State midfielder. Instead of immediately passing the ball up, she veers towards the middle of the field, pulling a Redbird (circled in green) with her. Liz Cardwell, Northwestern’s high forward, smartly pulls away from Zimmerman’s path, using her athleticism to run down the field toward the right sideline.

When Zimmerman gets to the half-field line, she’s successfully got the Illinois State midfielder’s momentum in the opposite direction she’s sending the ball. Cardwell, meanwhile, is well ahead of Zimmerman, and it’s too hard for the Redbird midfielder to pivot when Zimmerman passes the ball and breaks a line. Cardwell receives the ball up the field on the sideline. Forward movement gets priority here, not lateral.

Cardwell continues to push forward. She doesn’t go to the corner flag, though, as Northwestern typically tries to do, and instead veers towards the box. She pulls three Illinois State players with her toward the right side of the six-yard box. Meanwhile, Sarah O’Donnell is headed downfield.

Eventually, those three Redbirds track down Cardwell, who is now well inside the 18-yard box. O’Donnell, though marked by an Illinois State defender on her back, has open space in front of her just outside the six-yard box. Cardwell doesn’t have to work for an absurd cross or dribble her way through three defenders to get to O’Donnell. A simple slot of the ball through to O’Donnell helps Northwestern get up 1-0.

This kind of play shows that the ‘Cats have it in them to work forward movement and through balls into their play rather than relying on ineffective connection strategies. Of course, it helps that O’Donnell got solid contact on the ball — that is something else Northwestern needs to work on with regard to their finishing.

Inspecting a new Starting Lineup

Michael Moynihan is a creature of habit. He often picks the same starting lineup and the same substitutes. But the Kemmerley, Roesch and Nelson (first, with the exhibition knock and then the red card) dilemmas have shaken up the expected starting XI. Gwen Zimmerman also went off against Butler and didn’t seem to come back on. 

The Butler game has given us a better understanding of what the team might look like for the foreseeable future, should Roesch and Kemmerley’s injuries be for the long run (I don’t want to speculate too much without concrete details). 

Lofthouse and Phillips have now cemented themselves in the starting lineup, I’d like to think, with Amber Weaver coming in to supplement the defense and Zimmerman coming off the bench to sub in as a wingback option (though she might be out of the picture for the future, too). 

Moynihan has also been moving around a lot of players on the field. He tried Audrey Alberts out at a centerback against Illinois State in a three-back spot, moving Maddie Finnerty to the outside. Against Butler, that positioning switched again, with Zimmerman starting off the game in the middle, Alberts on the left and Finnerty on the right. 

Sarah O’Donnell grabbed the start against Butler up top, letting Kate Hennen have a bit of a rest. It’ll be interesting to see if that pattern continues, especially since O’Donnell is the team’s current point leader. 

Moynihan has a bit of a dilemma on his hands about what he is going to do with all of these versatile options. For now, we’ll keep monitoring the situation and see what the ‘Cats come up with over the course of the next few weeks.

Coming Up

Northwestern is set to play Loyola Chicago (2-2-0, including only a 1-0 loss to No. 5 Michigan State) at home on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CDT, streaming on Big Ten Plus. They then travel to Tennessee (4-0-0) on Sunday, playing a 1 p.m. CDT kickoff in Knoxville, streaming on SECN+. 

The ‘Cats will get Nelson back from her red card suspension, but Roesch and Kemmerley are probably going to be out. I hope Zimmerman can make a return, but it’s honestly not clear right now what is going on with her.

These are the last two games before Northwestern kicks off Big Ten play. The ‘Cats need to fight adverse circumstances to come out in good form to play Michigan on Sept. 10. Here’s to a drama-free, VAR-free, injury-free next set of games.