Boilers Down Wildcats to Open Big Ten Season
EVANSTON, Ill. – The Purdue soccer team began Big Ten Conference play with a 2-0 victory at Northwestern on Thursday night in Evanston, Illinois.
On a mostly cloudy and pleasant evening at Martin Stadium, sophomore forward Lauren Omholt gave the visitors a 1-0 lead just seven minutes into the game. Junior Kayla Budish added an insurance goal with less than five minutes to play to secure the win.
The Boilermakers (5-2-1, 1-0-0 Big Ten) were out-shot 20-7, and the Wildcats (5-3-0, 0-1-0 Big Ten) had a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal, but Purdue took advantage of its chances. NU earned 12 corner kicks and Purdue had two.
As the Old Gold and Black improve on their best start to the season since 2021, they open the Big Ten season with a victory for the first time since 2021, also on the road. The Boilermakers have won four of their last five games and outscored their opponents 13-2 in that stretch.
Meanwhile, Purdue handed NU its first home defeat since October 1, 2023, while the Wildcats allowed a goal at Martin Stadium for the first time since October 15, 2023.
The Boilermakers improved to 18-9-1 all-time against Northwestern and 7-5-2 in Evanston. It’s the 12th consecutive game between the two sides were at least one team was held without a goal.
Both Omholt and Budish scored their second goals of the season. Omholt’s score is the fourth of her career and her first game-winning goal. Budish netted her ninth career goal. It was assisted by fifth-year Mackenzie Jones, her first as a Boilermaker, 11th of her career and first since 2022.
Sophomore Emily Edwards made five saves for the second consecutive game and picked up her fourth shutout of the campaign. The defense also cleared a ball off the line. Northwestern’s goalkeeper made three saves. Senior forward Lexi Fraley led Purdue with two shots and was one of five Boilermakers with a shot on target.
Edwards’ first save came at 3:52, and the Boilermakers cleared a ball off the line just 13 seconds later. Not long afterwards, Purdue had its first shot of the game, which found the back of the net off of Omholt’s right foot at 6:09.
Omholt took advantage of a backwards pass that NU’s goalkeeper couldn’t handle. Near the edge of the penalty area, the long pass back bounced off the keeper right towards a charging Omholt, who quickly sent a shot from just outside of the 18-yard box around the goalkeeper. It bounced once and into the wide open goal for the 1-0 lead.
Watch Omholt’s Goal
Fifth-year midfielder Zoie Allen had a chance go wide several minutes later, and Edwards had two more nice saves in the 16th and 21st minutes.
Senior forward Gracie Dunaway almost made it 2-0 in the 28th minute, but her shot was saved to set up a corner kick.
The Boilermaker defense then forced two shots wide and blocked another to close out the first half.
Northwestern had a 9-3 advantage in shots, and a 4-2 edge in shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes. NU had five corner kicks and Purdue earned one.
The second half began with two shots wide by the Wildcats before the Boilermakers earned several strong opportunities.
Fraley and senior midfielder Lauren Meeks both nearly added to the advantage in the 63rd minute. Fraley’s first shot was saved, and Meeks was there for an attempt on the rebound, but that also was stopped by the NU keeper. Seven minutes later, Fraley had a chance blocked.
Two off-target shots for Northwestern preceded Budish’s goal at 85:30. Directly off a Wildcat corner kick that was bouncing towards the far sideline, Jones reached the ball first and poked it ahead past midfield. In a race to the ball, Budish beat an NU defender just past the halfway line and had a clear path towards the penalty area and a one-on-one opportunity just to the left of the penalty arc. With the keeper approximately 12 yards off her line, Budish dribbled around her, to the left, and sent a left-footed shot into the far side of the goal from the corner of the goal box.
Watch Budish’s Goal
That made it 2-0 with 4:30 left to play. Northwestern tried to get a goal back, but a pair of saves by Edwards, another shot blocked and one forced wide preserved the win and clean sheet.
Purdue had four shots, three on goal in the second half, and Northwestern had 11 shots, two on frame. The visitors had one corner kick and the home side had seven.
The Boilermakers are back at Folk Field on Thursday, September 19, for a nationally-televised matchup against USC. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Admission is free for all fans, and it also is $2 beer night. The weekend will conclude against No. 22 UCLA on Sunday, September 22, at 1 p.m., in West Lafayette.
For more on the Purdue soccer team, visit PurdueSports.com/Soccer and follow and connect with the Boilermakers at @PurdueSoccer on Twitter/X, Instagram and Facebook.