Home sweet home.
After six straight road games, No. 2 Northwestern returned to Evanston and promptly sent two top-10 teams back to the East Coast.
The Wildcats’ 18-10 win over No. 5 North Carolina on Friday and the televised 17-5 dismantling of No. 8 Johns Hopkins on Sunday not only vaulted the Wildcats to the top of the American Lacrosse Conference, but it also assured them home-field advantage in the NCAA tournament.
“The biggest thing that we did the whole weekend was we treated this like a Final Four and we said Friday you have to win in order to get to Sunday, ” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “This was our championship game and we knew it was a very important one.”
The Cats came out fast on Friday, playing with the intent of sending a message to the rest of the nation.
After freshman Meredith Frank scored off of the opening draw against North Carolina, the Cats never looked back. They proceeded to score three goals in the first three minutes, eventually building a 13-3 halftime lead.
North Carolina tried to tighten the score in the second half, but the Cats kept the game out of reach, winning 18-10.
Junior Kristen Kjellman finished with a team-high five goals and an assist. But the scoring was a team effort as nine different Cats recorded points.
The Cats also defeated the nation’s best goalie Friday.
North Carolina junior Kristen Hordy came into the contest with the nation’s best save percentage at .565, but was pulled from the game with 11:06 remaining in the first half.
“Our defense got a gut check today against a team that is very dynamic with a lot of weapons,” said North Carolina coach Jenny Levy.
NU made some goalie changes of its own this weekend. Sophomore Abby Bangser, who has only started one other game this season, got the nod Friday. However, freshman Morgan Lathrop was back in goal Sunday versus Johns Hopkins.
“Both goalies have been playing great, and I think when you have two great players you have to give them each time,” Amonte Hiller said.
No matter who was in goal, the Cats’ defense continued their suffocating style of play Sunday in front of a crowd of more than 900 against Johns Hopkins and standout junior Mary Key.
Key, averaging a nation’s best 6.4 points per game, was held scoreless with two assists.
“We wanted to try to do everything we could to not have her have the ball,” Amonte Hiller said.
With Key a non-factor in the game, the Cats set the pace of the game by controlling draws, 15-9, and out-shooting Johns Hopkins 30-16.
After Johns Hopkins’s junior Sarah Walsh scored the first goal of the game, the Cats took the reigns and turned a battle of two top-ten teams into a lopsided scrimmage. With an 8-1 halftime lead, the Cats never stopped pressuring en route to a 17-5 victory.
“We know we have to come out and play a full 60 minutes of lacrosse, which we haven’t really done in the past,” said freshman Hannah Nielson, who finished with two goals. “I think the past two games we’ve really showed that we can do that.”
As usual the Cats spread the ball around as ten different players recorded goals. Fueling the Cats’ 35 goals this weekend was senior Lindsey Munday who had a team-high three assists on Friday and four on Sunday.
In what Amonte Hiller described as a “team effort,” she said she believes the defense made a “breakthrough” this weekend, which can only aid the Cats’ already potent offense.
Reach Steve Silver at [email protected]
