This will be the most important weekend of the season for the Vanderbilt lacrosse team. Currently sitting atop the American Lacrosse Conference standings, they face their last two opponents of the regular season this weekend.
The first, Notre Dame, has the opportunity for a mere upset against the No. 10 Commodores (9-4, 5-0 ALC).
The second has the chance to slash Vanderbilt’s chances of making the NCAA tournament.
The latter of the two, Northwestern (5-9, 2-3), will try to use its underdog status to surprise the Commodores. An NU win would significantly hurt Vanderbilt’s chance of being selected for the 16-team NCAA tournament.
Since the ALC is in its first year of existence, there is no official conference tournament. So Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at Lakeside Field will be the final match of the season for the Cats.
While Vanderbilt must travel to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame 24 hours before playing NU, the Cats have been sitting pretty in Evanston, resting and working on skills since their 11-3 loss to the Fighting Irish on April 25.
“We didn’t show our true potential (against) Notre Dame,” freshman Kaitie Lenahan said. “And we have a lot of pent-up playing we can get out against Vanderbilt and surprise them.”
With nothing to lose regarding NCAA tournament placing, the Cats will be looking to vindicate the less-than-stellar play that led to their loss to then-No. 10 Notre Dame.
“It wasn’t our greatest effort,” NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We had some bright moments, but I don’t think we handled the speed of Notre Dame that well.”
Adding to the NU advantage is the result of the April 14 Vanderbilt-Davidson game, when unranked Davidson nearly upset the then-No. 8 Commodores 11-10. Davidson went on to lose to the Cats, 7-6 on April 20.
“(The Vanderbilt-Davidson game) proves that any team can beat any other team on any given day, ” freshman Donna McCann said. “If you’re mentally and physically there, rankings don’t matter.”
And while Vanderbilt’s reputation precedes it, the Commodores’ hectic weekend schedule, along with the added pressure of needing to win both games, might give the Cats the mental edge.
“It is going to take a solid effort (from Vanderbilt). They are playing two games in two days and that is a challenge,” Hiller said. “We are looking to capitalize on any opportunity that we get.”
The young NU team doesn’t have any more games to look forward to, but according to Hiller, the Cats are ready to give the Commodores a fight.
“This will be our last game, but we are treating it like a playoff and we are ready to go.”
