Lacrosse

There’s a first for everything, and this time it’s for Big Ten lacrosse. The inaugural Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament will take place this weekend at Rutgers University. All six teams in the Big Ten will participate.

Northwestern (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) clinched the No. 3 seed in the tournament after a win against Ohio State on Saturday and has a bye in the first round.

The Cats will go into the tournament with the news that two of their players — freshman Selena Lasota and sophomore Sheila Nesselbush — were named to the 2015 Women’s Lacrosse All-Big Ten Team, announced Wednesday. Senior goalkeeper Brooke Jones was also honored with a sportsmanship award.

The Wildcats will play their first game Thursday afternoon against No. 6 seed Michigan (5-11, 0-5) in the quarterfinals.

As far as first games go, the Cats really couldn’t have a better matchup to ease into the tournament. When the Wolverines and Cats squared off earlier this season, NU handed Michigan a humbling 17-8 loss.

The Cats dominated on the circle, flirting with perfection by winning 23 of 27 draw controls. NU was almost nearly perfect on clears, exploiting the Michigan defense in transition.

It’s tournament time, though, and all bets are off. NU will have to pay special attention to groundballs and turnovers, as they nearly tied the Wolverines in both categories.

If the Cats don’t succumb to a Michigan upset, they will face No. 2 seed Penn State (12-4, 4-1) next, who promises to be a far more challenging opponent.

In the April matchup, the Nittany Lions pulled away with a 14-10 victory. The loss was almost inexplicable — the Cats lead Penn State in shots, ground balls, draw controls and free-position shots, but allowed the Nittany Lions a 7-1 run in the end of the first half.

The Cats are going to be hungry for revenge if they get a chance to square off against Penn State once again, and that fire could help them to stifle the strong Penn State attack and prevent a big run. If they stop the Nittany Lions from building offensive momentum and playing a clean game, the Cats should be able to battle — if not cruise — to a victory.

The winner of the Penn State vs. NU/Michigan game will play the winner of No. 1 Maryland vs. No. 4 Ohio State/No. 5 Rutgers in the championship game.

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Twitter: @clairechansen