On a team labeled young and inexperienced, Shannon Smith is proving age is just a number.
After scoring 33 goals last season, the sophomore attacker racked up six scores and three assists in No. 1 Northwestern’s season-opening 18-6 win against Massachusetts. Smith moved to attack this season, joining All-American seniors Katrina Dowd and Danielle Spencer.
“We’re more of a dynamic offense this year,” Smith said. “Everybody can do everything: We can all feed, we can all cut, we can all shoot. That helps us, to know we can all work together well.”
Though Smith is less decorated than her teammates on attack, if history is any indication, she is poised for a breakout season. Spencer’s scoring skyrocketed from 11 goals in her freshman year to 59 in her sophomore campaign. Dowd’s production similarly increased, notching 40 goals as a sophomore to 17 as a freshman.
Dowd said freshmen tend to overthink on the field rather than let the game come to them. With a year-and a National Championship- under their belts, sophomores take on a more important role.
“In sophomore year you have experience, and you’re really looked upon,” Dowd said. “When our juniors and seniors have all the attention on them, it’s up to the younger players to take it off them.”
With her nine-point performance against UMass, Smith has forced opponents to notice her. If opponents concentrate too much on Dowd and Spencer, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller knows the “battle-tested” Smith will make them pay.
“She got a lot of confidence last year, and she’s really feeling great about where she’s at and what she can achieve at this level,” Amonte Hiller said. “She’s connecting well with the other attackers on the team, so she’s feeling like she can go out there and do her thing.”
Another sophomore stepping into a larger role is goalkeeper Brianne LoManto, who is splitting time with junior Darby St. Clair-Barrie to fill the void left by Morgan Lathrop, who graduated last year. LoManto had some game experience from last year, playing in 11 games and recording nine saves.
LoManto said one of the toughest adjustments as a freshman was figuring out Amonte Hiller’s system, since players come from various high school schemes. With the current sophomore class’s experience, LoManto said she expects them to step up this season and bridge the gap between the upperclassmen and freshmen.
“The biggest thing is being able to relate to the freshmen. We can feel closer to the freshman class because we just recently came out of their shoes,” LoManto said. “(The sophomores) also feel a little closer to the rest of team as well.”
NU takes on No. 15 Stanford on Friday, a team that boasts 15 upperclassmen returning from last season’s squad. The Cardinal was left out of the NCAA tournament despite knocking off No. 3 Penn in its final game of the season.
The Wildcats will conclude their West Coast trip Sunday when they face the Golden Bears. California is one of the few teams on NU’s schedule not ranked in the top-20.
Amonte Hiller said it is a challenge to travel across the country to another team’s home field. For the Cats to return to Evanston with a 3-0 record, they will need production from their surging sophomores.
“You can’t play younger just because you’re a sophomore, and that’s what you’re labeled as-you have one year of experience, and that’s plenty,” Dowd said. “It’s easy to think that this is all on the seniors, but this is a whole team, and it’s going to take everybody.”[email protected]
