So far in this NCAA tournament, opponents have mapped out a variety of gameplans for slowing down the Wildcats’ attack. None of them have figured out what to do with Katrina Dowd.
Massachusetts faceguarded junior attacker Danielle Spencer throughout its first-round contest with Northwestern and kept her from finding the back of the net, but Dowd’s career-high seven goals fueled her team’s 23-6 victory.
During Saturday’s quarterfinals matchup, Princeton played especially tight defense on defending Tewaaraton Trophy winner Hannah Nielsen and fellow senior attacker Hilary Bowen (in her first game back from tearing her left ACL), holding them to one goal combined.
Dowd came to the rescue again, sending her team to the national semifinals in Towson, Md., by lighting up the scoreboard with seven scores. Those goals were the margin of victory in the Cats’ resounding 16-9 win over the Tigers.
“We had no answer for Dowd,” Princeton coach Chris Sailer said. “She really hurt us. She’s the player in my mind that has progressed so far from her first two years to this year that’s just made them a different team.”
Dowd has already racked up 14 goals this postseason – only three shy of the tournament record, which Bowen tied last year en route to her second straight MVP award. Dowd also helped out in other areas, causing two turnovers and picking up four ground balls. Her recent success comes despite not starting for a three-game stretch at the beginning of March.
Against Massachusetts, Dowd got the scoring started during the opening minute. She did one better on Saturday, beating Princeton goalie Erin Tochihara twice before the first 60 seconds had ticked off the clock.
NU’s offense cooled off after that, going nearly nine minutes before scoring again. Tochihara made a pair of difficult saves on shots by Spencer to keep Princeton (14-4) close.
“We knew that she plays a little bit higher out on the crease so that you really have to put it around her, you have to throw some sort of shot fake,” Spencer said. “We kind of had those first-half jitters and forgot about putting it around her.”
The sophomore goalie finished the afternoon with 14 stops – a valiant effort against an NU attack that fired 39 shots at her, three-quarters of which were on goal.
But Tochihara could not hold off the Cats (21-0) forever. They built a 5-1 edge, then went silent for an 11-minute stretch before closing with three more goals to take a comfortable 8-5 lead into halftime.
“Northwestern’s attack has seven great shooters – all of them can put the ball wherever they want,” Tochihara said. “I tried to keep things as simple as possible, but in that situation they’re shooting a lot of shots.”
Still, the Tigers were fairly pleased with how they played before the break. Their attack had been efficient, converting on five of eight shots.
Sophomore midfielder Lindsey Drumm netted four goals in the opening 30 minutes and said she thought NU’s defense was vulnerable.
“This type of defense is the best defense you want to play against,” Drumm said. “They pressure so far out that it gives you so much room to take it hard to the goal one-on-one.”
Princeton’s problem was that it never had the ball enough to consistently exploit those opportunities.
Just as they did in the first half, the Cats controlled the draw and kept the Tigers from having the ball for extended periods of time. Princeton did not have a possession in its offensive end until seven minutes into the second half and won only seven of 27 draws for the game.
“They really made it difficult for us with their time of possession, their dominance on the draw control,” Sailer said. “We knew that to win this game, we were going to have to compete on the draws and we just weren’t able to do that.”
Sailer’s squad mixed up its approach to taking the draw, but to no avail. The Tigers had no solution for the 6-foot-2 Spencer, who repeatedly capitalized on her size advantage.
As a result, Princeton did not score in the second half until more than 17 minutes had passed, too late to mount a serious charge because NU had extended its lead to 13-5. The Cats proceeded to run out the clock, setting up their fourth game in the past two years against Pennsylvania.
NU’s physical style of play contributed to Princeton’s offensive struggles.
“The one aspect of the style of (Northwestern’s) defense and their athleticism all over the field is that it can make you a little tense,” Sailer said. “It can make you wonder who’s coming behind you and you have to make that perfect pass.”
