After suffering its first loss in almost two years last week, No. 2 Northwestern returned to typical form Sunday by blasting No. 18 Penn State 19-9.
The Wildcats wasted no time regaining their swagger as they scored five unanswered goals to start the game in front of a televised audience on CSTV.
Junior midfielder Kristen Kjellman and freshman midfielder Hilary Bowen each notched two goals while junior attacker Aly Josephs added another in that opening scoring binge.
“I was really pleased with how they came together as a team,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We had contributions from everyone on our attack. Our ball movement was very good and today’s play was much more unselfish than in some of the past games I have seen.”
That selfless style of play is perhaps most reflected in the records book as four Cats posted hat-tricks or better.
Kjellman finished with four goals and two assists. Bowen and fellow freshman midfielder Meredith Frank each recorded three goals while Frank also had one assist. Helping to feed these goals was senior attacker Sarah Albrecht who had a team-high four assists on the day.
However, the main offensive spark was senior midfielder Lindsey Munday, who led the team with five goals and two assists.
“The team’s performance and my performance are just a testament to our attack,” Munday said. “Everyone is a threat and that makes us hard to defend.”
Penn State did not score until the 17:43 mark in the first half when senior midfielder Shari Maslin posted her only goal of the game.
With an 8-2 halftime advantage, the Cats capitalized on their momentum by expanding their lead two minutes into the second half with a goal by senior midfielder Laura Glassanos.
Although the Nittany Lions attempted to tighten the game, cutting the Cats’ lead to four, making it 13-9 with 12:14 remaining, NU closed out the game with six consecutive goals.
“(Penn State) came out really hard and never gave up so we were never comfortable with any lead we had,” Munday said. “I think we did a great job of keeping the pressure on.”
Amonte Hiller said she was pleased with how the Cats focused on winning “the little battles.”
This includes out-shooting Penn State 35-29 and capitalizing on ground balls, which the Cats dominated 27-18.
The Cats’ defensive unit also stepped up, controlling 13 ground balls and holding the Nittany Lions to single digits in scoring.
The defense was led by freshman Morgan Lathrop, who returned to her starting position in goal after being pulled at halftime of the Duke loss. She finished with eight saves.
“(Lathrop) responded extremely well in the first half and made some really big saves,” Amonte Hiller said. “They were momentum builders as we took the ball the other way. We didn’t have that last week.”
Now that the Cats appear to have rebounded from their 16-10 loss at Duke last Friday, they must now prepare for two highly ranked opponents at home. They will return to Evanston to face No. 6 UNC on Apr. 21 and No. 7 Johns Hopkins on Apr. 23.
This will be the Cats’ first home stand since March 19 when they defeated Notre Dame 21-12.
“We have a lot of momentum, but we have to keep working and improve for each game,” Amonte Hiller said. “We know we have to get better and better each game. We are really excited to be at home and it will be another good test for us.”
Reach Steve Silver at [email protected]
