This past week was a crucial one for Northwestern Sports Teams, some looking for comeback wins, others looking to cement a place among the best in the nation. Gabe Shumway has this week’s NU Sports Report.
Photo by Mary Grace Grabill/Northwestern Athletics
Hello, I’m Gabe Shumway, here with your NU Sports Report on everything from this past week.
With homecoming weekend being celebrated and countless alumni back in town this weekend, the Northwestern Football team took on the Howard Bison. In front of their home crowd, the Wildcats were indeed the heavy favorites. However, while Graduate Student Ben Bryant had received the vast majority of playing time this season, interim Head Coach David Braun opted to go with Junior Brendan Sullivan at QB in this matchup. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead with a huge rushing touchdown from Sullivan. Alongside a field goal and another touchdown, this time on an endzone pass from Sullivan to Senior Bryce Kirtz, as well as a defense which silenced the Bison, Northwestern headed into half time with a sixteen-zero lead. The Bison, however, would not go quietly into the night, with a rushing touchdown from Sophomore Ja’Shawn Scroggins to open the second half scoring. While the ‘Cats responded with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Sullivan to Graduate Student Cam Johnson, this was the last of their scoring on the afternoon. While Howard attempted to claw back with 13 points in the fourth quarter, they came up short, giving the Wildcats a 23-20 victory, their third of the season. They are set to face off with Nebraska on the road this Saturday at 2:30 PM.
However, they certainly weren’t the only wildcats in action this past week, with two games from NU’s Volleyball team on Friday and Saturday, versus Big 10 rivals Michigan and Michigan State.
On Friday, the Wildcats were in Ann Arbor, and lost a heartbreaker, 3-1 in sets, dropping the first and third sets by just two points each. Graduate Student Julia Sangiacomo led the ‘Cats offense with 16 kills, alongside Michigan Native and Northwestern Senior Alexa Rousseau who produced 25 assists alongside a stellar defensive performance with 15 digs and 5 blocks.
On Saturday, however, now against Michigan State on the road, the Wildcats were able to secure a 3-2 victory against the Spartans. This came on the back of a whopping 32 kills from Sangiacomo and 50 assists from Rousseau, doubling her total from the prior day.
With the 1-1 road finish from the weekend, the ‘Cats move to an even 8-8 record on the season. Their next game is set for Friday evening, where they’ll duke it out with Maryland at Welsh-Ryan Arena, starting at 7 pm.
On the soccer field, this week saw a narrow loss for the Northwestern Women’s team, as they were unable to close out a victory at 20th-ranked Wisconsin, resulting in a 2-1 loss, with the one goal coming from Senior Forward Ella Hase at the 47th minute. This moves the team to a 7-4-3 overall record on the season. They’re set to square off at Iowa this Thursday, beginning at 7pm.
Continuing with soccer, the Northwestern Men’s Team secured a 2-0 victory at home this weekend, taking down the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on the back of two goals late in the game, the first from Ugo Achara at the 78th minute and the second from Jayvin Van Deventer at the 86th. This moves the ‘Cats to a 9-0-3 record on the season, good for the number twelve ranking in the nation.
That concludes this week’s recap. If you have any interest in upcoming or past information on Northwestern sports, feel free to check out more information at nusports.com.
I’m Gabe Shumway from WNUR News.
