TOWSON, Md. – After struggling for much of the NCAA tournament, Morgan Lathrop returned to All-American form with Northwestern’s fourth NCAA title on the line.
The Wildcats (21-1) got their revenge over Penn (17-2), 10-6, to win its fourth-straight championship.
In front of an NCAA-record 6125 fans in attendance, Lathrop recorded a season-high 11 saves.
Without a go-to scorer stepping up in the first half, Lathrop held Penn to just two goals on seven shots, including a gorgeous save at the buzzer.
Just before time expired, the Quakers’ Rachel Manson was fouled and given a free position to go one-on-one against Lathrop.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, Lathrop deflected the shot to give the Cats a 5-2 lead going into the break.
The Cats worked hard to break the brick wall that was Penn goalie Sarah Waxman, who led the country with a 6.05 goals-against-average.
Penn scored the first goal of the game when Ali DeLuca beat Lathrop, and it took NU almost five minutes to equalize the score.
With Hilary Bowen, who scored six goals in Friday’s win, limited to just one goal in the first half, her teammates picked up the slack to keep NU in the lead.
Five Cats scored in the first period before Bowen came into her own in the second half.
The junior from Rochester, N.Y., scored three goals in the game, tying Delaware’s Karen Emas’ 1984 record for goals in one NCAA tournament with 17.
The Cats made a comeback tough for Penn by scoring three goals within 92 seconds, including one by senior defender and captain Christy Finch.
Finch’s defense also helped stall a Penn comeback in the second half. The Cats didn’t score for 11 minutes and the Quakers cut NU’s lead to just two with 13:43 to play.
As the momentum was shifting in the Quakers favor, the Cats called on junior midfielder Hannah Nielsen to give NU a much-needed goal.
Nielsen finished the game with 3 goals and 3 assists, giving her a total of 114 points on the season.
And with less than two minutes left in her college career, Finch intercepted the ball to cement her team’s legacy in the lacrosse record books.
