After a slow offensive start and soggy, windy conditions, two Northwestern players found a way past the Notre Dame defense to propel the Wildcats to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
Juniors Hilary Bowen and Hannah Nielsen combined for 11 goals and 15 total points to give the Cats (18-1) a 15-7 victory over the Fighting Irish (12-7).
“I am really pleased with the way the girls played today, ” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “I was pleased with how resilient they played and how they never lost their poise.”
In the schools’ last meeting on April 9, NU kept Notre Dame scoreless for 42 minutes on its way to a 16-2 romp. This time, it was the Irish who stormed to an early lead.
Notre Dame scored first and led throughout the half. The Cats were penalized early and often for fouls, picking up 14 in the opening period.
NU got back into the game on goals by Bowen and freshman Brooke Matthews.
Once again, the Cats used defensive specialists to shut down Jilian Byers, the Irish’s top scorer. Byers, who scored 67 goals this season, failed to score in both her games against NU.
Holding the Irish to a 5-5 tie at the half was enough to give NU the momentum when the teams switched sides. After playing the first 30 minutes with the wind in their faces, the Cats were ready to play with it at their backs.
“Knowing in the second half we would have it at our backs gave us a bit of a boost,” Bowen said.
The Cats seized the advantage and scored four goals in the first 10 minutes, After a quick Notre Dame goal cut NU’s lead to three, Nielsen took over the game. The junior from Australia scored four goals in six minutes, including one on a behind-the-back shot late in the second half.
“It’s something we play around with in practice,” Nielsen said. “In that situation, Hilary (Bowen) passed me the ball and I had a bad angle to shoot normally, so I thought: ‘Why not, let’s try a behind-the-back.'”
