The Sunday Slide: Here Come the Wildcats

Don’t look now. Here come the Wildcats.

Northwestern just compiled what will probably stand as the most impressive week any team will put together in 2026. On Wednesday, it ended North Carolina’s 31-game winning streak and avenged a loss in last year’s NCAA title game.

Then on Sunday, the Wildcats beat a legitimate Big Ten contender in Johns Hopkins.

It’s quite the rebound for Northwestern, which suffered a week on the total opposite end of the success spectrum earlier this month. On March 12, Syracuse came to Evanston and won. Three days later, Ohio State did the same.

But this iteration of Northwestern — the won that can beat North Carolina — is the Northwestern I expected all season. It just took us some time to get here. Thus is the case when a handful of high impact transfers come into an established program and need to settle into their new roles.

One of those transfers, Maddie Epke, was a spark this week. She controlled 15 draws against North Carolina and buried five goals with two assists against Johns Hopkins.

Olivia Adamson and Annabel Child (two more transfers) each had a goal against the Jays. Jenika Cuocco (yet another transfer) made 23 saves this week.

This is one of the most talented rosters in the sport, led of course by Madison Taylor but one that should arguably provide more help to her than last year’s team did. And remember: that team almost won the whole thing.

This is the Northwestern we’ve been waiting for — and the Northwestern other teams were dreading.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

Our team was on-site for Boston College’s 13-11 win over Stanford on Thursday. You could sense the relief for Acacia Walker-Weinstein and the team after a big win. It’s been a tough spring for the Eagles, but it always seemed like there was latent potential there.

In a postgame huddle, Walker-Weinstein was emphatic. “We’re back, baby!” she exclaimed to her team. There’s still work to be done, but Boston College’s outlook appears much better now than it was before.

Bees? That seems like the worst possible thing that could delay an athletic event. Well, Arizona State had to postpone its game against Florida until Sunday because of a bee swarm. No thank you.

If you’ve yet to do so, start preparing for Rocquette Allen to be a household name. She’s just a freshman, but the Penn State attacker is like a stick of dynamite for that offense. She has 30 goals and 11 assists this year, and she might have scored the goal of the year on Sunday.

Given what we talked about in the open, who is the Big Ten favorite? Maryland has probably earned the current rights to that title, but Northwestern has the best win on the board. Michigan’s defense is as stout as they come. Even Hopkins, which lost to both Maryland and Northwestern this week, is in the mix. This is one of the most fascinating conference races in recent memory.

FUN WITH NUMBERS

1 • Undefeated team in Division I remaining. Maryland (12-0) also has the most wins in the country.

4 • Wins against IWLCA Top 25 teams in the history of Villanova, which earned its best-ever victory by beating No. 2 Stanford.

6 • Consecutive wins for Delaware, which opened its season 1-4 but has seemingly turned the corner.

7 • Goals by Lauren LaPointe in Maryland’s 15-12 midweek win over Johns Hopkins. Cathy Reese mentioned LaPointe to me in the preseason as a breakout candidate. She was right.

9 • Straight wins for Syracuse, which scored a season-high 16 goals Saturday against Pitt.

11 • Points for Allison Reilly in Army’s 22-6 runaway win over Lafayette. The Black Knights put 34 shots on goal.

15 • Saves for Stetson’s Maddie Eckert in her team’s first-ever win against Liberty.

17 • Draw controls for freshman Mae Murphy in Loyola’s stunning 19-14 win over Navy.