Senior midfielder Hannah Nielsen led No. 1 NU with seven points in Saturday night’s 11-9 victory over No. 3 Penn.
Three of her four goals came in the second half. Sean Collins Walsh/The Daily Northwestern
For a while, it looked like Saturday night’s battle of the unbeatens between No. 1 Northwestern and No. 3 Pennsylvania at Lakeside Field was not going to get underway. The steady rain, interspersed with numerous cracks of thunder and flashes of lightning, made it unlikely the field would be deemed playable.
Two hours after the Wildcats and Quakers were supposed to begin warming up, the weather finally started to cooperate, allowing them to start their pre-game routines.
Even though the delay meant a shorter practice period, smaller-than-anticipated crowd and rushed Senior Day ceremony, it did not lessen the players’ excitement.
“Our girls reacted really well to it,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “They were pumped up and ready to go.”
It was worth the wait.
NU avenged its loss to Penn in last year’s regular season finale with an 11-9 victory, fueled by a second-half surge. The Cats’ 11 goals were as many as the Quakers have given up in a game all season.
After two less-than-stellar performances against Virginia and Ohio State, NU was determined to put on a strong showing to gain confidence and build momentum heading into the postseason.
“The past two games we’ve had weren’t up to our standards,” senior attacker Hannah Nielsen said. “So we were definitely excited to get out here and show the coaches and show ourselves that we can stick to our game plan and execute well.”
During some stretches in the first half, the two teams seemed like they switched jerseys.
The Cats, who lead the nation in scoring, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes by prolonging their possessions and waiting for a hole or for the Quakers’ defense to make a mistake. They took very high-percentage shots, converting all but one of their first-half opportunities.
But then Penn, a team that normally employs the strategy NU used in the opening minutes, came storming back, playing at a more frantic pace. The Quakers’ barrage of five straight goals, which was set up by winning four draws, forced the Cats to play from behind for the fourth time in five games.
“Everybody talks about (Penn’s) defense, but their attack, in the first half, was great,” junior attacker Katrina Dowd said.
Nielsen scored her first goal since the game-winner against Virginia on a perfect pass from freshman midfielder Shannon Smith to bring the Cats within one. After another Penn goal, Smith and Nielsen were on opposite ends of another connection with 14 seconds left in the first half, trimming the deficit to 6-5 at the break. It was the first time the Cats had trailed after 30 minutes since they were behind going into intermission against Johns Hopkins more than a year ago.
That was all the motivation NU needed.
“At halftime, we really looked at each other and said, ‘We need to get these 50-50 balls and draw controls,'” Nielsen said. “That was huge because, when the offenses had possession, whether it was us or Penn, we scored goals. It was crucial to have the ball in this game.”
Nielsen and junior attacker Danielle Spencer scored two early goals, and NU reclaimed a 7-6 edge. The Quakers tied the game up again when goalie Morgan Lathrop ventured behind the net and failed to intercept a pass, allowing Ali DeLuca to score her second goal with a clear shot and Lathrop’s back turned.
The Cats came up with the next four draws and found the back of the net four consecutive times to seize an almost insurmountable 11-7 lead with less than eight minutes remaining. The Quakers had gone 12-plus minutes without having a possession.
“We were able to take the wind out of their sails,” Amonte Hiller said. “We made some opportunities for ourselves offensively and were able to take advantage of them.”
Amonte Hiller had told her team at halftime that it could afford to be more aggressive. The Cats heeded her advice and took twice as many shots as they did before the break, increasing their lead and enabling them to stall in the final minutes.
Nielsen rebounded from a sub-par game against Ohio State to lead all scorers with four goals, also adding three assists – one of which was the 200th of her career. Her strong play helped NU dictate the tempo in the second half, as she recorded three goals after intermission.
“I came away from that game thinking I needed to dodge more and create more pressure,” Nielsen said. “That’s something Kelly and I talked about last week, instilling in my fellow attackers that we are in control of the game.”
