The 2021 season for Purdue soccer was a banner year for the Boilermakers. Behind a program record 16 goals from Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Griffith Purdue made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and finished second in the Big Ten. They even defeated Loyola-Chicago in the NCAAs before losing a heartbreaker on penalty kicks at Notre Dame in the second round.
Since then, it has been rough. Aside from a stunning 3-0 win over #15 USC to start the 2022 season Purdue struggled big time, going 6-24-5 over the last two seasons and 0-15-5 in Big Ten play. The last win in Big Ten play came on October 31, 2021 over Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
New coach Rochard Moodie wasted little time in breaking that streak. Purdue started Big Ten play in 2024 tonight at Northwestern and got the full three points in the standings with a 2-0 win.
Purdue got on the Wildcats early with Lauren Omholt taking advantage of a turnover to score just 6:09 into the match. It was her second goal of the season.
Goalkeeper Emily Edwards made sure the lead held up with a pair of saves in the 16th and 21st minutes to preserve the shutout. Gracie Dunaway nearly made it 2-0 when her shot was denied in the 28th minute.
Purdue held a 1-0 lead at halftime, then Lexi Fraley just missed her own chance to make it 2-0 when she was denied on a breakaway in the 63rd minute. Fraley also had another opportunity saved in the 71st minute.
Purdue doubled its lead in the 86th minute when Kayla Budish scored on a breakaway to seal it. .
The victory came despite the Wildcats dominating the stat sheet. Northwestern had 12 ciorner kicks to Purdue's 2 and had 20 shots (6 on goal) to Purdue's 7 (5 on goal). Edwards recorded her fourth shutout of the season with 5 saves.
Purdue is now 5-2-1 on the season and 1-0-0 in the Big Ten in advance of hosting USC next Thursday.
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Speaking of Northwestern, to learn a little more about the football Wildcats before they come to West Lafayette read how Xander Mueller draws inspiration from Roquan Smith.
