The best athletes step up in the biggest games, and on Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Field, it quickly became apparent Northwestern junior attacker Shannon Smith is more than just the best player on her team. She is also one of the best players in the nation.
She proved that with several pivotal plays in her team’s 12-10 comeback victory over No. 3 Duke. After notching a goal and two assists in the first half, Smith helped her team come back from a three-goal deficit in the second half. With her team trailing 8-6, Smith stick-checked a Blue Devil off the draw to give the Wildcats the ball. Shortly thereafter, she got the ball right in front of the net, and with a Duke player right in front of her, Smith went under the defender to score the goal.
She scored the game-winning goal in similar fashion. With approximately seven minutes remaining, Smith spun around her defender and ran into traffic in front of the net, but once again went under the defender to find the back of the net.
“I try to practice a couple of moves out there so I have a couple of different options,” Smith said. “I just took her up high and tried to drop-step it underneath, and fortunately it worked.”
This wasn’t the first time Smith came up clutch in a close contest. In an overtime victory at then-No. 3 North Carolina earlier this season, Smith scored four of the Cats’ seven goals. Two came in the second half to help NU come back from a 5-3 deficit.
Junior goalkeeper Brianne LoManto said Smith does more than score big goals, but she is also an influential leader.
“Shannon’s been doing that since seventh grade, whether it’s basketball, soccer, tennis,” LoManto said. “She’s always been that player that fires people up.”
Even when Smith isn’t scoring goals, she is usually the focal point of the team’s attack. Throughout Saturday’s contest, Smith camped out behind the cage, waiting for the play to develop and essentially playing the role of floor general for the Cats.
From behind the net, Smith can pass it over the middle or make a sudden swoop towards the net. Her ability to finish in front of the net is part of what makes her such a dangerous player.
“She’s got a lot of different moves around the crease,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “She’s very crafty. And she can feed as well, so she’s pretty difficult to defend. If they throw a double-team, it just gives someone else openings.”
Smith started altering her position as well on Saturday, perching in the corners of the offensive zone, a development Amonte Hiller was happy to see.
“I’ve told her she wants to try to get different looks,” Amonte Hiller said. “She can dodge from anywhere. Just changing things up and making sure she’s doing different things is crucial.”
Smith also led her team in ground balls, scooping up three grounders, a pivotal contribution considering the Blue Devils’ grittiness on the draw and ground balls.
“I personally love challenges,” Smith said. “It took a lot of focus out there and a lot of heart to know that you had to take those hard, solid 10 seconds out there and fight for those ground balls and those draw controls when we went up for those because if you didn’t have it, you weren’t going out there and scoring.”
Fortunately for the Cats, Smith was scooping up ground balls and scoring.
