Although there were no television cameras or top-ten opponents this weekend, Northwestern earned an NCAA tournament berth and at least a share of the American Lacrosse Conference with wins over Ohio State and Denver.
The Wildcats (15-1, 4-0 ALC) proved they could play in the rain, defeating Denver 19-10 for their fifth straight win on Sunday in soggy conditions at home.
“It was definitely very slippery, which affects your footing and change of direction,” junior attacker Aly Josephs said. “The wind and the rain really can get in your head, so we just had to focus more and play through the conditions.”
Ground balls were harder to come by in the rain, but the No. 2 Cats had no trouble controlling the pace of the game en route to their 17th consecutive home victory. Even with the poor playing conditions, the Cats had the edge on ground balls 35-24
Junior midfielder Kristen Kjellman had a team-high five goals. Senior midfielder Lindsey Munday and Josephs each recorded hat-tricks.
Although the Cats did not come out with their traditional fast start Sunday, only tallying a 9-4 halftime lead, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said she would not make excuses because of the weather.
“We’ve got to tighten up if we want to be good in the long run,” Amonte Hiller said. “We need to fine tune some of the things we are good at. Our shooting, offensive stuff and defensive slides.”
With post-season implications riding on their road trip to ALC foe Ohio State (3-12, 1-4), the Cats wasted no time claiming their share of the conference title, opening the game with 13 unanswered goals. The Cats eventually defeated the Buckeyes 16-4 on Friday.
Out-shooting the Buckeyes 37-12, the Cats spread around their offense production with ten different players recording points. Freshman midfielder Hilary Bowen notched a team-high three goals and added two assists. Seniors Sarah Albrecht, Laura Glassanos and Munday joined freshmen Meredith Frank and Hannah Nielsen with two goals each.
The Cats also had the advantage in ground balls, 28-19 and draw controls, 14-7. But the scoreboard does not always tell the whole story.
“We weren’t 100 percent happy with (the Ohio State) game,” Nielsen said. “We know we could have done a lot of things better than we did and we are looking to improve on every aspect of our game. I mean it was a little bit sloppy here and there, we could have put more shots away, but we’re working on it.”
Once the Cats returned to Evanston to face Denver (14-4), they did work on their shots, out-shooting Denver 33-18.
At this point in the season, though, the Cats only care about one opponent – themselves.
“My expectations are really high for this team and I really measure ourselves against ourselves, not the scoreboard,” Amonte Hiller said. “This is a great team and we’ve got some great players. It’s a matter of coming together.”
With one more regular season game remaining, Amonte Hiller said the Cats have to remain focused on their ultimate goal of defending their national championship.
“After this weekend we are one step closer to winning another championship,” Josephs said.
Reach Steve Silver at [email protected]
