No. 1 Northwestern was in an unfamiliar position at halftime on the road against No. 8 Syracuse-trailing by three goals.
But the result was the same as the 34 times before: The Wildcats came out on top. The resilient young squad came back to squeak out a 13-12 win against the Orange on March 21. NU took an early 5-1 lead in the first half, but a surge put Syracuse in control 10-7 heading into intermission.
“We definitely didn’t play our best half in the first half,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We had 16 turnovers in the first half, and that’s very uncharacteristic of us. We needed people to step up, we needed some resolve and some people to make the difference and individuals did that.”
Senior attacker Danielle Spencer and sophomore goalkeeper Brianne LoManto were two players who answered the call in the second half. Spencer scored three of the Cats’ final four goals and finished the game with six scores. Amonte Hiller was not surprised with Spencer’s performance-she said the Brighton, N.Y., native seems to play well every time the team faces Syracuse.
LoManto complemented Spencer’s effort by keeping the Orange off the scoreboard for much of the second stanza. The sophomore goalie notched six saves in the second half and four in the final 15 minutes to preserve the comeback. Her performance helped her earn ALC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
“She definitely is a force in the cage, and as a sophomore that’s awesome,” senior attacker Katrina Dowd said. “Coming into the season we had two strong goalies and she has emerged as better than a lot of people thought she would be.”
NU’s struggles out of the gate continued at Ohio State on March 24, as the Cats trailed 2-1 midway through the first half. But then NU went on a 10-0 tear to firmly establish its lead and command the remainder of the game, winning its ALC opener 17-10.
Despite the seven-goal win, NU still fell short of its goal of playing 60 minutes of strong lacrosse. A goal by freshman midfielder Amanda Macaluso gave the Cats a 17-5 advantage with 12:20 left in the game. The Buckeyes proceeded to score five unanswered goals.
“Fortunately we had established such a lead that Ohio State wasn’t able to come back,” Spencer said. “But against a better team we’re not going to have a 10-goal lead. We might have a three-goal lead and if we let up, the last 10 minutes could be dangerous.”
While turnovers have plagued NU as of late, the team has corrected its earlier problem of controlling the draw. The Cats dominated the draw 18-9 against the Orange and 21-8 versus the Buckeyes.
NU will need to maintain possession in its first evening home game tonight against No. 14 Notre Dame (5-2), a team the Cats consider a rival. The Fighting Irish have lost only to No. 9 Dartmouth and No. 10 Vanderbilt.
A win against Notre Dame would give the Cats 37 consecutive wins, breaking the program’s standing record of 36 straight. But with three road matches on the horizon after the Cats take on the Fighting Irish, Amonte Hiller is not expecting more wins to come easily.
“We’re making improvements, we’re making adjustments, we’re re-evaluating and we’re trying to get better every time we step on the field,” Amonte Hiller said. “These next couple of weeks are going to be very challenging and will be a true test for us to see where we’re at.”[email protected]
