Lacrosse

A little over five minutes of play had passed in then-No. 5 Northwestern’s game against Syracuse on Feb. 24. Orange attacker Nicole Levy called out for a routine screen to be set for her while she had the ball on the right side of the field.

After curling over the pick, Levy found a straight shot to the goal and whipped the ball into the corner of the net. That one defensive mistake was no big deal at first for the Wildcats (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten), until it happened again two minutes later. Orange players celebrated while the NU defense searched for answers.

Despite a monstrous 15-save game from sophomore goalkeeper Julie Krupnick that day, the Cats lost in overtime to Syracuse and started a stretch where they won just one out of four games. The rocky period was a tough pill to swallow for a team that had come out 3-0 to begin the season.

“We have improved especially over the last month,” said coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. “We took the losses that we had early on and learned from them.”

NU has quickly rebounded after its tough stretch. Since its loss to top-ranked Boston College, the Cats have gone 4-0, including impressive back-to-back wins against Penn State and No. 9 Penn.

Amonte Hiller described her players’ abilities to buy into their respective roles on the team as integral to their success.

“People take a lot of pride in whatever their role is on the team, and I think that they’re doing that to the best of their ability,” said Kelly Amonte Hiller. “When you have a group that really buys into whatever their role is to make the team better, you know you’re going to have great things happen.”

Senior attacker Selena Lasota has been in large part leading the NU effort over the past four games and racking up career milestones along the way. Over the weekend, Lasota became the fourth Wildcat to record 300 career points and moved into the ninth spot on the NU all-time assists list with 62.

The Cats are also touting the country’s top-ranked scoring offense. NU is averaging 18.9 goals per game, a full goal per game higher than any other team.

“I just think we need to keep playing together,” said sophomore midfielder Brennan Dwyer. “Our coaches are all so talented and have so much experience, so they keep giving us new things. I just think as long as we keep listening to them and working together, we’ll keep doing really well.”

The Cats are facing No. 16 Johns Hopkins on the road this weekend. NU has a 3-2 road record this season, but is hoping to ride its hot streak to another conference victory against the Blue Jays.

Amonte Hiller said the upcoming game will provide the team with a great opportunity to prove itself.

“Any conference game is going to be really tough for us,” she said. “We have to make sure we take care of the things that we do well. We have to get draw controls, take advantage of our possessions, shoot well and play great team defense. Every game is an opportunity and this one is a great opportunity for us to prove ourselves.”

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