The Northwestern Field Hockey Notebook: Bulletproof Boon
· Yahoo Sports
Two entries into the NUFH Notebook this weekend. Ramping things up just seven days out from Opening Day against VCU.
This week we take a look at a goalkeeper who’s built upon the greatness of her protege, filling her shoes to perfection and an integral part of the defensive success that Northwestern saw in 2025.
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Her name? Juliana Boon.
Classified Information
Name: Juliana Boon
Class: R-So.
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Career Stats: 19-1 Record | 1,383 MIN | 62 SV | .781 SV%
Accolades: 2025 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year | NFHCA All-American Second Team | 2025 NCAA All-Tournament Team
Exceeding Expectations
When Jules took the reins from Annabel Skubisz after NU trekked its warpath towards the national title, feelings were mixed. Apprehensive, to put it best.
The duo were from the same hometown and played for the Texas Pride in high school. Both were intelligent beyond their years, but replacing the lid on the cage that Skubisz provided the ‘Cats was a tall task.
In 2024, Skubisz led the defense to 14 clean sheets, half of which came against ranked opponents. She ended her career with a .854 save percentage that season, the best in the nation.
How could a redshirt first-year — who hadn’t seen a minute of action that season — follow that up?
Here’s an answer for you: how about going the first 257 minutes of your career without giving up a single goal?
Yeah. That’s how Boon followed that up.
No other goalkeeper in Northwestern history has the distinction of leading the ‘Cats to four scoreless outings to start a season. Not even Skubisz. In fact, the mere feat of going four straight games unblemished hadn’t been done in 35 years.
The questions in cage came in abundance. Just four games in, they were silenced. But that’s not to say that 2025 was without its speed bumps for Boon.
Top-10 Turbulence
Everyone’s heard this saying in sports: everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face. The theme proved consistent for Boon in goal for the first time last season.
The first punch she took came in the form of her first career loss to Princeton. Off the hop, Boon was put to work and forced to make a save within the first minute. Soon after, she’d watch a penalty corner shot from Ottilie Sykes sear past the outstretched reach of her mitt and off the board for the first score of the game.
Princeton stayed in the driver’s seat from there, scoring twice in the second half to widen the gap and claim the victory, knocking the then-No. 1 ‘Cats off the top of the field hockey hill and later costing them a bye in the NCAA Tournament.
Boon refused to let that setback deter her, conceding only two more scores in the five remaining regular season games. Then, the Wolverines of Michigan arrived in Bloomington for the Big Ten Tournament with the goal of creating chaos in front of the cage, and they succeeded for a brief period.
Down 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the first half, Cami Wiseman and Natalie Millman clanked shots off the boards twice within five minutes to tie it up. After a Grace Schulze response, Claire Taylor took it upon herself to even things up in the third, helping U-M regain the momentum it desperately needed at the time.
It wasn’t the best showing from Boon, but while she struggled, the offense picked up the slack and ran away with the game in the second half. She’d take a day to regroup before blanking the nation’s top scorer in Dionne van Aalsum and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Tournament Championship.
Boon handled Yale and Miami (OH) quite well in the NCAA Tournament to follow, but No. 1 (ranked & seeded) North Carolina was a completely different story. The Tar Heels’ Heck sisters went back-to-back within the first 10 minutes of the Final Four to rattle NU’s keeper.
NU obviously came from behind and won in overtime, but not many people remember that the comeback would’ve been stymied in the fourth had it not been for Boon’s denial of Ryleigh Heck’s strike with 10 minutes to go in regulation.
Not crucial enough? How about another save at the start of OT to open the door for Schulze’s game-winner?
Boon had her struggles in 2025, but she always found a way to rebound, best exemplified by a four-save showing in a dogfight national title win over NU’s ghosts of Christmas past in the Tigers.
2026 Projections
Boon is undoubtedly the best returning goalkeeper in the sport, and without Maja Zivojnovic and Maddie Zimmer on the roster, that’s a huge plus for the Wildcats. There’s a bit more parity between Northwestern’s defense and the majority of the top-20 because of that.
Nonetheless, Boon appears ready to prove that the start of last season was no fluke. Behind a largely youthful midfield and experienced defenders taking a step up, her composure in the cage is extremely critical this season.