One fan received a free T-shirt every time the Northwestern lacrosse team scored a goal Friday, a promotion for the “Wildcat Women’s Sport Weekend.”
The T-shirts ran out, but NU fans weren’t too disappointed.
The NU attack scored goals faster than they could be announced this weekend, as the No. 6 Cats came up with a commanding 25-7 throttling of league opponent Ohio University (7-7, 2-3 American Lacrosse Conference) on Friday and an 18-5 rout over Denver (7-10) on Sunday.
The Cats’ offense, ranked ninth in the country, came out quickly and didn’t let up. NU (14-1, 5-0) opened the scoring in both games, something it has done in all but three contests this season.
The Cats notched the game’s first seven goals against the Bobcats and the first 11 against the Pioneers.
“We didn’t let down at all,” said freshman Aly Josephs, who finished the weekend with seven goals. “We could have stopped scoring after the 10th goal, but we just kept shoving it down their throats.”
The Cats’ attack came out dominant in every respect: winning draws, forcing turnovers and snagging groundballs. Their opponents soon seemed to give up.
“I think it was really hard for them to come out there when we kept getting our draw controls and finishing our shots,” junior Sarah Albrecht said.
Led by Courtney Koester and Ashley Koester, last week’s ALC co-Players of the Week, the NU defense kept opponents out of the game, shutting out Denver in the first half and holding Ohio to only two goals in the first period.
The Cats held Denver’s top scorer goal-less and gave up only two goals to Ohio’s Lynz Keys, who is third in the ALC in scoring.
Defensive efforts were especially critical against Ohio, which was coming off come-from-behind upsets in its previous two games, against Penn State and St. Bonaventure.
NU’s defense prevented the Bobcats from a similar comeback Friday, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said.
“This team, I knew, was not going to die,” Amonte Hiller said.
But by halftime, the Cats were up 17-2 against Ohio — and 11-0 against Denver — allowing NU to give its bench some playing time.
A total of 15 different players got on the board for the Cats over the weekend, and Kate Darmody and Minnie Doherty each picked up their first goals of the season.
Meredith Philipp, who usually plays backup to starting netminder Ashley Gersuk, also got some playing time in each second half.
While the starters got some rest on the sidelines, they screamed, cheered and jumped up and down for their teammates.
“I like cheering for everyone and having them show what they can do,” sophomore Lindsey Munday said. “Every person on the bench is capable of playing well, so it’s good to get them out there.”
The weekend wins extend the Cats’ school-record winning streak to 13 games — the second-longest active streak in the country.
The victories also keep NU in the hunt for the conference’s automatic playoff berth, which it can clinch with a win Thursday against Vanderbilt.
NU’s 25 goals Friday tied its own record for the most goals scored by any team in the nation in a game this season.
The weekend’s wins will give the team confidence going into its last game of the season — and possibly in the playoffs.
“Now we really know how good we are,” Josephs said after Friday’s game. “I feel like today we proved that we’re supposed to be No. 6.”
