Wolverines to Trek to No. 18 Northwestern, Illinois

The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan women's soccer team (5-1-2, 1-0 Big Ten) hits the road for its first conference road trip of the season, traveling first to Evanston, Ill., to take on No. 18 Northwestern (7-0-2, 1-0 Big Ten) on Thursday (Sept. 21) at 7 p.m. CDT at Martin Stadium and then concludes the week in Champaign against Illinois (5-2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) on Sunday (Sept. 24) at 1 p.m. CDT at Demirjian Park. Both matches will be streamed live on B1G+.

Notes

• Senior goalkeeper Stephanie Sparkowski was named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week for the second straight week, becoming the first Wolverine in program history to earn Big Ten honors in back-to-back weeks. She ranks No. 13 in the nation in save percentage (.896) as well as No. 12 in the land and tops in the Big Ten with five clean sheets. Her goals-against average is No. 41 at .625 goals/game. She also has allowed only two goals in the last five matches.

• In her first season as the starting goalkeeper, Sparkowski has now played in 11 total matches (eight starts, 855 minutes). She has allowed one goal for every 142 minutes of match action.

• Michigan has scored nine goals on the season, with all of them coming between the 33rd and 62nd minutes of play.

• Sophomore Jenna Lang tallied her first score of the campaign against Minnesota (Sept. 15). The goal is the fourth of her career and brings U-M's record to 2-1 when she scores in a match.

• The Wolverines are riding a five-match winning streak, and seven-match unbeaten streak. Both streaks are the longest since the latter portion of the 2021 season (Oct. 21-Nov. 21), when U-M had eight straight victories.

• Michigan is 1-1-1 against ranked opponents, highlighted by a 1-0 win over No. 11 Notre Dame (Sept. 7) and a draw against No. 5 Virginia (Aug. 24). Overall, U-M is 12-10-2 against ranked opponents under head coach Jennifer Klein.

• The Wolverines also are 2-2-1 in Big Ten road openers under Klein.

• In the most-recent meeting against Northwestern, U-M fell 3-0 against the then-No. 5 ranked WIldcats on Oct. 13, 2022. Before that, Michigan had won three of the last five, including a 2-1 overtime road win and a 1-0 win in the 2015 Big Ten tournament. Northwestern is 7-0-2 on the year and ranks No. 41 in the NCAA RPI.

• Against Illinois, U-M has won the last four meetings, as well as seven of the last eight. In the most-recent matchup, U-M defeated the Illini 2-1 in overtime on Sept. 17, 2021. Sophomore Abby Zugay, who has started seven matches for the Wolverines this season, spent last season at Illinois as a freshman. The Illini enter the match with a 4-2-2 record and are No. 16 in the NCAA RPI.