Field Hockey Falls on the Road at #1 Northwestern

Friday, September 25

Evanston, Ill.

4 PM ET

Michigan State University

(4-5 (0-2Big Ten))

Northwestern

(10-0 (1-0Big Ten))

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
MSU	0	0	0	0	0
Northwestern	2	1	1	2	6

The Michigan State field hockey team huddles on the field

Photo by: Evan Peacock

9/25/2026 8:32:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. — Michigan State field hockey faced a stern road test Friday afternoon, falling 6-0 to top-ranked Northwestern in Big Ten action at Lakeside Field.

MSU moves to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while the Wildcats remain undefeated at 10-0 (1-0 B1G).

Northwestern controlled the offensive chances, out-shooting Michigan State 35-6 overall with an 18-5 advantage in shots on goal, while generating a 15 penalty corner chances to MSU's two.

Junior goalkeeper Lola Munoz de Verger made the start, recording three saves while yielding three goals across 30 minutes in the first and third quarters. Sophomore goalkeeper Catherine Wolf turned in a busy performance in relief during the second and fourth quarters, totaling seven saves, including a fourth-quarter penalty stroke stop, while allowing three goals. Junior back Caro Schaefer added two first-quarter defensive saves to push her Big Ten and NCAA-leading total to six on the season.

After Schaefer made her first goal-line defensive stop off a Wildcat shot in the ninth minute, Northwestern scored seconds later to go ahead 1-0. Schaefer came up with another goal-line denial in the 11th minute, but a Wildcat slipped through the Spartan defense late in the first period to double the lead, 2-0. Schaefer produced the Spartans' lone on-target look of the frame off an inserted penalty corner from junior midfielder Lilian Knorr.

Wolf took over in goal in the second period and was immediately tested, turning aside four Wildcat shots. Northwestern extended its lead to 3-0 in the 21st minute when the Wildcats converted a corner chance. Michigan State generated an answering opportunity in the 28th minute off another Knorr corner, but junior forward Clare Arvai's shot was stopped to keep MSU off the board going into the break.

Munoz de Verger returned to the cage for the third frame, recording two saves against the Wildcat attack before Northwestern converted on a penalty corner in the 37th minute to make it 4-0.

Michigan State's offense generated several dangerous looks in the fourth quarter, forcing Northwestern into saves on shots from sophomore forward Ella Mckernan, sophomore midfielder Grace Grabowski, and sophomore midfielder Ellie Kendall. At the other end, Wolf highlighted her frame by turning aside a penalty stroke from Sessa in the 56th minute. The Wildcats capped the scoring late with tallies in the 58th and 60th minutes.

UP NEXT
Michigan State returns Ralph Young Field to host Indiana on Friday, Oct. 2 for a conference showdown at 4:00 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network.