I wouldn’t call it a slow start. In fact, I wouldn’t dwell on the season-opening loss to No. 9 Louisville at all. If anything, outshooting a team 21-to-3 with 10 shots on goal is nothing short of impressive. On another impressive note: this isn’t a seasoned-veteran type of team with the headlining names that propelled Northwestern to two straight championship appearances playing; rather, young talent is now helping run the Wildcats’ game — which means dominating opponents.
Tracey Fuchs no longer has Bente Baekers to demoralize every defense she plays and top the leaderboards. Her loss is a huge one, but this year’s team is getting contributions from all over, and pretty evenly at that, which hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent seasons.