After 77 scoreless minutes in the Big Ten championship game between No. 3-seed Maryland field hockey and No. 1-seed Northwestern, the game looked poised to be decided in a shootout.
But Northwestern freshman Olivia Bent-Cole had other ideas, nailing a backhanded game-winner, as the Wildcats took the double-overtime thriller, 1-0.
“There’s no excuses, we lost to a great team.” Maryland head coach Missy Meharg said. “We have another tournament to look forward to, but right now, we just want to be with the team and spend some time digesting this.”
This was Northwestern’s second conference tournament title under head coach Tracey Fuchs.