I’d like to start this post-mortem by flashing back to August 15th of this year, the day that the Big Ten Conference released its preseason poll for women’s soccer. In this poll, the head coaches in the conference ranked Northwestern 11th in the conference. This would prove to be a massive blunder.
In the months that followed this poll, the Wildcats built one of the best resumes in program history, culminating in a second-place B1G finish and a Sweet 16 run. They ended with a record of 16-5-2 and climbed all the way to fifth in the United Soccer Coaches poll.