As the Northwestern lacrosse team seeks its sixth straight national championship, THE DAILY asks students about their familiarity with the sport.
No one would blame Northwestern for playing with swagger. The Wildcats are reigning five-time national champions, the top-ranked team in the preseason poll and easily handled Massachusetts 18-6 in their season opener.
Yet to think coach Kelly Amonte Hiller or her seniors would let that get to their heads is to not know the character of this squad.
“This team is brand new, we’ve added freshman, we’ve lost some players, so we’re not five-time national champions in our heads,” senior attacker Katrina Dowd said. “Every day we come to practice, we’ve won no championships as this team. We cleaned slate and this year we’re making a name for ourselves.”
Dowd is one of the leaders on a young team looking to ease a major transition period for NU. After a perfect 23-0 campaign, the Cats graduated several of the most decorated athletes in the program’s history: attackers Hannah Nielsen, Hilary Bowen and Meredith Frank, and four-year starting goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop.
Joining Dowd on the attack are senior Danielle Spencer and sophomore Shannon Smith. While Dowd did not play in the UMass game for precautionary measures, Smith and Spencer made up the difference, combining for 11 goals in the victory.
The rest of the scoring came from a balanced attack, highlighted by sophomore Alexandra Frank, Meredith’s sister, who found the back of the net three times. Amonte Hiller has stressed the importance of every member of the team with the loss of last year’s senior class.
“We have players stepping into roles, and obviously one person can’t fill what those players did for us, so we are taking the team approach,” Amonte Hiller said. “We’ve talked to each individual, even the freshmen that haven’t gotten that much playing time yet. We said, ‘You need to impact this program, and you need to look to yourself to step up.'”
This year’s senior core has strong performers who have filled a void earlier in their careers. Dowd led the squad in scoring last season after Bowen went down with an ACL injury. Spencer has started all but one game over the past two seasons and is ninth all-time in goals scored at NU.
The wild card will be how the freshmen adjust to the college game and how other players respond to an increased role of the team. Spencer said the freshmen are catching on to the Cats’ system quickly-much quicker than she did when she was in their position three years ago. Not like Amonte Hiller is giving them any alternative.
“(The freshmen) have to adjust fast – we need them,” Amonte Hiller said. “Right now is a critical time for them, and we’re trying to step up their level of play and put them in situations in practice where they have to make decisions and have to step up individually as freshman. They’re liking the challenge and responding well.”
Freshmen Beatrice Conley and Erin Fitzgerald are two newcomers expected to make an impact this season, and the numbers they wear prove it. Conley dons Bowen’s number one jersey, and Fitzgerald sports the number seven worn by Nielsen. Amonte Hiller said the team fosters connections by having the former players call up the incoming freshman and invite them to accept the jersey.
Though the numbers will still be out on the field, Spencer said there is a noticeable difference in the team’s style of play without its leaders. She said not having Bowen and Nielsen behind the cage took some getting used to for the squad.
“What’s unique about us this year is that we don’t really have any designated feeders,” Spencer said. “Teams can’t really pinpoint which person on our attack is going to be the quarterback of the offense. At first in the fall it was tough to get used to, but now that we’ve worked on it, it makes our offense more dynamic.”
The shift between seasons did not just come on attack. The Cats lost Lathrop, NU’s career leader in saves. Rather than immediately naming Lathrop’s replacement, Amonte Hiller has instituted an ongoing competition between junior Darby St. Clair-Barrie and sophomore Brianne LoManto. In the win against UMass, LoManto got the start and played roughly two-thirds of the time in the goal, while St. Clair-Barrie finished out the game.
Amonte Hiller stressed competition for the starting job is still in progress, and no decisions have been made. She also said the contrast between Lathrop and the two potential goalkeepers makes the battle for the position exciting.
“They’re very different personalities, a different style than Morgan,” Amonte Hiller said. “Morgan played athletic, she just did what was natural for her and we encouraged that. These guys are a little more technical, a little bit more sound, and they’re doing a great job for us. It’s different, but different can be good, and we’re excited about what they bring to the table.”
LoManto admired Lathrop for her unconventional play. In some respects LoManto is the same way. She did not have someone initially teach her the proper technique of a goalkeeper, so she has variations upon standard style as well, such as playing lower to the ground.
As with the loss of the other seniors, the main issue with Lathrop’s departure is not replacing the production in goal, because the Cats have a wealth of talent. The question will be if LoManto and St. Clair-Barrie can effectively communicate to the defense and become a distinctive voice as the field general.
“It’s definitely going to be hard to fill Morgan’s shoes,” LoManto said. “She is a very competitive person, a very strong personality. When she was down or had a lapse in saves, she still had confidence. She was still able to forget about that game and go after the next game. Her drive to be the best was unbelievable.”
The team’s relentless pursuit of excellence is no coincidence. Spencer said Amonte Hiller seeks “the most competitive girls out there,” and brings out their intensity on and off the field. NU’s drills are designed to have clear winners and losers, and Spencer said that environment helps the Cats keep their edge during games.
“We strive to have that intensity and competitive atmosphere every day at practice,” Spencer said. “If we can have our toughest competition be our own teammates, then when we get out on the field against another team, it won’t be anything more difficult than what we’ve already faced.”
The opposition was not challenging enough for last season’s NU squad, as evidenced by the Cats’ perfect record and 21-7 national title victory. The team did encounter some close calls, such as a double-overtime victory against Penn in the NCAA semifinals that kept NU’s national championship aspirations alive.
The Cats have different faces starting this time around, but their goal is the same: win the NCAA tournament. While they will be without the services of some of their stars from previous years, Amonte Hiller said the current players are eager to make a name for themselves in NU’s history.
“They don’t want to get caught up in the past,” Amonte Hiller said. “This team wants to make its mark because it’s a new team and they know the impact of the senior class that left last year and how tremendous they were-everyone looked up to those players. They want to continue the tradition of working hard and putting it all out there and seeing what they can do as a group.”
The team-first men
tality is something Amonte Hiller and her players have emphasized throughout the preseason. The players have even adopted football coach Pat Fitzgerald’s mentality about last season’s wide receiving corps.
“One thing our team is working on this year is to be nameless,” senior attacker Kim Pantages said. “Obviously we’re really honored and privileged to be a part of our past teams, but this year is a clean slate. We’re a very young team and we’re looking forward and seeing how much better we can get. If we settle on last year, we’re not going to go anywhere tomorrow.”
There’s no getting around it-this team has been and will be measured against the squads from past seasons. The Cats know what is at stake. While it is tempting to look back at the sustained success of the program, the group has its sights locked squarely on the future.
And with every NU opponent gunning for the top-ranked team, it needs to. The Cats once again face a tough schedule, as all but four squads they will face this season are currently ranked among the top-20.
“The girls are really starting to get excited about the games,” Amonte Hiller said. “So far in the preseason we’re growing, but sometimes you don’t mature unless you go out and actually test yourself in the game situations. I’m looking forward to seeing where this team can go. It’s exciting to be a part of it.”
