Spending the night in Storrs, Conn., Saturday, the Northwestern lacrosse team heard a lot of celebrating: TheConnecticut men’s basketball team had clinched a trip to the NCAA championship game.
“When the game ended, you could hear everyone outside going crazy,” NU’s Kristen Kjellman said. “It was fun to hear everyone so excited.”
Kjellman and the Wildcats (7-1) made sure a similar celebration would not take place for the Huskies’ lacrosse team.
The freshman netted eight goals — twice the Huskies’ team total — in the Cats’ 18-4 romp over struggling Connecticut on Sunday.
Kjellman, who has scored 16 goals in the Cats’ last three games, now leads the team in goals with 25, and in scoring with 32 points.
“She did it all,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “She was able to score a lot of key goals.”
NU goals weren’t hard to come by in the game. In a collaborative effort NU’s offense shined, with seven Cats beating the Huskies’ goalie.
Jenny Bush netted three goals and Aly Josephs finished with two. Laura Glassanos’ four assists led the team, and she also snatched one goal. Lindsay Finocchiaro, Sarah Albrecht and Sarah Walsh also scored for the Cats.
“The offense was the most potent we’ve ever been,” Amonte Hiller said.
NU’s offense was 17th in the nation going into Sunday’s game. The Cats’ 25-7 defeat of Davidson on Feb. 20 is the nation’s highest single-game score this season.
The Cats are undefeated in their last six games, and are in second place in the American Lacrosse Conference standings. Connecticut’s record fell to 3-7, and the team remains at the bottom of the Big East Conference standings.
Kjellman opened the scoring, grabbing the game’s first three goals en route to a 5-0 NU lead.
The Huskies scored their only goals in a four-minute span toward the end of the first half, making the game competitive with a 6-4 tally. The Cats then scored 12 unanswered goals, putting the game out of reach.
The Huskies substituted their entire lineup in the second half in an effort to mend their scoring troubles.
Connecticut goalie Jennifer Wong was pulled with 10 minutes left in the game, but NU goaltender Ashley Gersuk played a flawless second half.
“The defense played really tough, consistent defense, which made my job a lot easier,” Gersuk said.
Connecticut’s game was full of mistakes, as the Huskies compiled 18 fouls and 11 turnovers.
The Cats, on the other hand, committed only one foul and didn’t allow the Huskies to make them cough up the ball.
“We moved the ball a lot,” Amonte Hiller said. “(Connecticut) got desperate in some situations and were forced to foul because we had so many open looks.”
The Huskies’ close loss Saturday night against Notre Dame might have contributed to some of their mistakes — Amonte Hiller and Kjellman both said Connecticut looked tired Sunday.
Kjellman said the Cats enjoyed dominating such an uneven contest after a hard-fought past three games, each of which were decided by two goals or fewer.
“Close games are really exciting,” she said. “But I think when you play like we did today, it’s really fun, too. We know we worked hard and deserved it.”
