TOWSON, Md. – In Friday’s NCAA semifinal game, Northwestern and North Carolina combined for 45 fouls. Sunday, NU and Maryland matched that number in the national title-after one half.
Senior attacker Danielle Spencer said the heightened environment-the game drew a U.S. women’s lacrosse record 9,782 fans, mostly red-clad and cheering for the home-state Terrapins-may have contributed to some of the early penalties.
“The refs were definitely calling it in this game, but you can’t blame it on anyone,” she said. “We were so full of emotion and at points instead of putting that emotion into other things like our focus, we were fouling, getting a little careless.”
The penalties began in earnest six minutes into the game, when six fouls were called in a two-minute window. One of those fouls removed a goal for the Terrapins, as Sarah Mollison was whistled for shooting rather than passing on an indirect free-position shot.
The first yellow card came 13 minutes into the game, when NU assistant coach Scott Hiller was flagged for arguing from the sidelines. Following Hiller’s penalty, both teams notched two goals on free-position opportunities, pushing the score to 8-3. In that span, Maryland had another supposed goal taken away, this time because of an inadvertent whistle with 14:41 left in the half. Both Maryland coach Cathy Reese and the Terrapins fans were fuming after the two revoked scores, but Reese said some of the outrage might have been due to the game’s high stakes.
“This was such an exciting environment to play in, that I think the momentum and the excitement of the game really fueled the fans,” she said. “It was loud no matter what call was made, no matter who had the ball and no matter what was happening.”
Even in a national championship game, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said NU should have been able to overcome the first half’s 45 stoppages.
“You just have to go out there and play,” Amonte Hiller said. “You can’t control things that you can’t control. We just go out there and play our best no matter what the situation is. There are always things that happen-weather, whatever it is-and you just go out there with a strong mentality and play your best.”
While not as many penalties were called after intermission, both teams seemed to amp up their physicality in the second half. All told, the teams combined to commit 73 fouls.
On a draw control attempt 10 minutes into the half, senior attacker Katrina Dowd leaped into the air and came thundering down to the ground. Dowd injured her left leg in the process and had to be helped off the field. She was cleared to return eight minutes later but didn’t appear to be the same. Dowd, who recorded one of her worst statistical performances of the year, limped into the post-game press conference with an ice pack attached to her leg.
Maryland’s physical defenders made sure the Cats paid the price for entering the crease. On her second-half score, sophomore attacker Shannon Smith rushed into the eight-meter mark from the left side of the goal. Despite a collision with Maryland netminder Brittany Dipper, which left Smith on the ground, Smith managed put the ball through the pipes to tie the game.
With the Cats down one goal minutes later, Spencer broke free and tallied what she thought was her third goal of the game, but it was called back because of a crease violation.
Spencer, who racked up a pair of yellow cards last weekend against Duke, picked up NU’s fourth and final flag with 10 seconds left in the contest.
NU finished with 38 penalties by the end of the game, the most the Cats have compiled all season.
