For four seasons, Morgan Lathrop has been a fixture between the pipes on the top-ranked team in the country.
She has started in net for Northwestern during 82 of 84 games so far in her career, placing among the top 10 goalies nationally in goals against average. Opposing teams have gotten more than 10 shots by her just eight times, and she has registered a double-digit save total in 15 contests.
That’s not bad for someone who never picked up a lacrosse stick until the coach of her high school team begged her to.
“I thought she was absolutely crazy,” Lathrop said.
At the time, Lathrop was a star netminder on the Hackley School’s soccer team, which ended up winning two New York state titles while she was there. She eventually gave in at the strong urging of some older girls on the team and played both sports, in addition to basketball and squash.
As hard as it might be to believe now, Lathrop struggled with the transition at first.
“I was absolutely horrible,” said Lathrop, who became NU’s all-time saves leader during Saturday’s 13-3 win over Penn State. “Towards the end of my junior year, some self-preservation came about – I figured if I saved (the balls), I wouldn’t get hit with them.”
Lathrop has been able to translate some of her soccer skills to lacrosse. She spends more time on the ground than most goalies do, which she thinks is a product of starting out playing the other sport and enables her to make low saves.
Her lacrosse performance improved considerably, but Lathrop was still looking at opportunities to play soccer for some Division III schools. Her dad and coaches made lacrosse highlight videos and sent them out to colleges across the country so she could keep her options open. Alexis Venechanos, at the time a Wildcats assistant and now the coach of Massachusetts, liked what she saw and brought Lathrop out to Evanston.
The rest is history.
“I wanted to use athletics to get me into the best school possible and the best situation,” Lathrop said. “The campus, great academics, amazing athletics – and who wouldn’t want to come play for Kelly Amonte Hiller and the whole coaching staff here?”
Because starting goalie Ashley Gersuk graduated after the Cats’ first national title in 2005, there was an open competition to fill her spot the following year. Lathrop seized control with 15 saves in the second game (and her first start) of her freshman season against Hofstra.
Lathrop has not loosened her grip on the position since. Even though she was stepping in at a crucial position for the defending champs, she was oblivious to the pressure.
“I think I was a punk freshman and just kind of went after it,” Lathrop said. “I don’t think I felt any pressure just because I didn’t even know what the situation was.”
That confidence has come in handy off the field as well, helping her pull pranks on her teammates.
“She can tell you anything, and you’ll believe it just by the way she says it,” senior attacker Hilary Bowen said. “We end up believing things, and we find out later (that Lathrop was wrong) and we’re like, ‘Wait, that’s not even close to being right, what are you talking about?’ And she’s like, ‘I know, but the way I say it makes you believe that it’s the truth.'”
NU’s offense consistently ranks at or near the top in goals scored and shots taken. Standout scorers like current senior Hannah Nielsen and former attacker Kristen Kjellman won three Tewaaraton Trophies combined, with Nielsen a finalist this year to make it four.
As a result, Lathrop and the rest of her unit tend to be taken for granted in the team’s success.
“I think that people often overlook our defense and our goaltending,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said.
In addition to anchoring the defense, having someone like Lathrop in the cage improves the offense’s effectiveness.
When the attackers have faith in a goalie’s ability to come up with key stops, they can play more aggressively on the other end.
“Every time that you see her make one of those big saves and get the ball out quick, you want to make that save worth something,” Bowen said. “She gives you that confidence to attack the net and try to make something happen down there.”
Both Bowen and Amonte Hiller pointed to Lathrop’s thorough preparation as a major factor in her success. Bowen said Lathrop studies film tirelessly – more than anyone else on the team does.
Lathrop hopes to stay in sports after graduating this June, though not with coaching or lacrosse. She has a job lined up in Chicago with a sports marketing agency.
But before moving on to that, there is still some unfinished business Lathrop and her fellow seniors must attend to.
“We’d really love to go out with a bang and get that fourth (national championship),” Lathrop said. “That would top off my college experience.”
