Welcome to the first in-season week of Pitch Perfect, Inside NU’s first-ever column dedicated to all things Northwestern women’s soccer. Today, we’re debriefing Northwestern’s chaotic season-opening 3-1 loss at Virginia, reviewing what did and didn’t work for the ‘Cats and where the team goes from here.
The good news for Northwestern Women’s Soccer is that the team scored a goal against a top-25 ACC opponent. The bad news? There’s a long road ahead for the team to be considered a daunting opponent in Big Ten play, and they might need to do it without star midfielder Keira Kemmerley (though as of Monday we have no confirmation of that yet).
Mid-August is prime time for summer school — re-watching film, adjusting tactics, swapping players around positions to find the right level of chemistry and the likes. And despite the fact that the ‘Cats dug themselves a 3-0 hole in the first 45 minutes of the game at Virginia, there are still some important points Northwestern can build on throughout the rest of the season.
Let’s break down the Wildcats’ report card.
The C range: Offensive Transitions and Shape
I’m not sure you can grade an aspect of the first game of the season harsher than a C, especially against such a high-level opponent.
The obvious holes in Northwestern’s game began with the front line. Throughout the 90 minutes, there was never a clear vision for bridging the gap between the midfield and the offense. Sometimes, it was astute reads from Virginia’s defense (most notably Pearl Cecil and Jordyn Hardeman) that broke up Northwestern’s offense. For the most part, however, it was Northwestern’s lack of offensive creation and slow reaction times that limited any sort of offensive flow.
Kennedy Roesch struggled in this game — she faced a lot of pressure from multiple Virginia defenders hounding her. She missed a shot in the 55th minute off her front foot that, in many other circumstances, she would have converted on.
Northwestern’s offense, however, can’t run solely off Roesch, and it really shouldn’t. Lots of people fundamentally misunderstand Roesch’s game. Though she was the team’s top scorer by a double-digit margin last year, she’s a hold-up striker at her core and cannot miraculously conceive chances without a supporting cast behind her.
Given this, it was fascinating to me that the team seemed to be playing with the setup it did — this is from the second half (pictured below, thanks to my illustrations. Please do enjoy).
In the first half, Northwestern played with two forwards in line with each other (Kate Hennen and Roesch). In the second half, however, the forward line changed to playing a stacked striker situation, with Roesch sitting just behind a pure striker (Hennen/Sarah O’Donnell). This lineup would make sense if Northwestern’s offense had a lot of width to work with to meet Roesch on the wings, but it didn’t — and if players somehow managed to creep their way up the sidelines, they often failed to cross. Northwestern tallied zero corners all game, demonstrating a relative lack of offensive production. This needs to improve as the season goes on.
The B range: Substitutions
It’s a little too early to discuss the nuances of players newer to Northwestern’s substitute rotation, but we got a taste of Northwestern head coach Michael Moynihan’s full roster during the season opener. Some players resonated more than others with Northwestern’s style of play.
The center back pairing is still clearly up in the air, which is another big problem for the ‘Cats. Senior Maddie Finnerty seems to be the only pick set in stone. First-year Naomi Lofthouse started the game next to Finnerty, but Olivia Elliott took over Lofthouse’s place for the rest of the game. Both combinations obviously need more time to gel, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Elliott start the next game as a more senior option.
Entering the starting midfielders was senior Keira Wagner, who was extremely quick on the field — when she was able to accelerate and take space, she drew defenders in with ease and caused a lot of chaos.
First-year Gwen Zimmerman logged 44 minutes, proving to be a solid option as an outside back. She wasn’t afraid to shut down skilled Cavaliers like Gio Canali and overall has a high soccer IQ. On the attack, sophomore Liz Cardwell’s work ethic on the right side of the field was second to none, and her sheer athleticism will make her an interesting case study for the rest of the season, depending on how the players around her shift. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cardwell and Zimmerman make impacts off the bench for the rest of the season.
The A range: Holland Carey’s First Goal as a ‘Cat and Elle Phillips
Though Northwestern’s attack struggled for the vast majority of the game, it was amazing to see Holland Carey grab her first goal as a Wildcat — especially off a Gabby Anderson set piece. Goalscoring variation is always a good thing, and to see Carey grab herself two points after a 2025 season that ended in injury.
The real show of promise — at least in my opinion — was Elle Phillips. Phillips subbed on in the 26th minute to replace center back Lofthouse according to the record books, but she really played a defensive midfield role after Kemmerley left the field, and she was everywhere — intercepting passes, disrupting players, and taking advantage of space.
Phillips’ real value on the field came in the second half, where she really began to grow into herself on the field. Obviously, it was only her first game as a college athlete, but she quickly learned how to make herself a useful tool in offensive transitions. With Phillips, the ‘Cats started to become more daring with balls in the air, and she created chances that turned around quickly like this one in the 61st minute.
The Next Assessment
Northwestern’s next game is its home opener against Syracuse: another ACC opponent that may pose a lighter threat to the ‘Cats than top-15 ranked Virginia. We’ll also hopefully get some answers regarding Keira Kemmerley and continue to see how this team will work around her potential loss. Kickoff on Thursday is at 7:00 PM CDT, streaming on Big Ten Plus (B1G+/BTN+).