The Lake Show is back in action.  

Northwestern returned to Ryan Fieldhouse on Monday night for its first home game of the 2022 season, easily defeating Marquette by a final score of 24-13.

After suffering a 19-8 loss to the defending national champions, Boston College, the Cats (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten) rebounded on their home turf to hand a convincing loss to the Golden Eagles (1-1, 0-0 Big East).

NU’s aggressive offense was spearheaded by graduate student Lauren Gilbert, who put away a game-high six goals for the Cats, all in the first half. Junior Erin Coykendall and sophomore Leah Holmes followed, with each player scoring five goals in career-high performances.

Gilbert, the Preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the year, kicked off the night with an impressive four goals in the first quarter, propelling the Cats to an 8-3 lead. 

In the second quarter, Eve Hritzuk launched a shot behind her head to put away her first goal of the season. While the Cats consistently held Marquette at an arm’s length, the Golden Eagles did make some strides. Both teams scored four goals during the second quarter, but NU still secured a 12-7 advantage.

The Golden Eagles also led NU on the draw for three of the four quarters of the game.

The Cats ran away from the Golden Eagles once and for all in the third quarter, comfortably positioning themselves with a 10-goal lead over Marquette. 

After a hot third quarter, they slowed things down a bit in the final quarter of the game. For the defending Big Ten champions, this still meant finding their way to the net four times, closing out the first Lake Show of the new year with a 24-13 victory.

Statistically, NU dominated Marquette in almost every area of the game, outpacing the Golden Eagles 13-7 in assists, and 14-7 in forced turnovers Holmes led the Cats in assists, achieving a new career high and matching Marquette’s Mary Schumar’s four.

NU is fresh off a record-breaking 2021 season. The Cats won their second Big Ten title in program history and went 15-1, with their only loss outside of the regular season to Syracuse in the Final Four. 

However, the Cats are without senior Izzy Scane this season, who is recovering from an ACL injury. In dominant fashion last year, Scane broke the program’s single-game goal record and single-season goal record.

The weekend’s game against BC came on the heels of the news of coach Kelly Amonte Hiller’s contract extension. The coach that has led NU to seven national titles and is widely considered one of the greatest of all time will continue as head coach through the 2029 season.

The Cats are ranked fifth in the nation after week one by the Inside Lacrosse Poll, down one spot from the preseason fourth place ranking.

NU will return to Ryan Fieldhouse on Sunday to take on Arizona State. With games against top 10 teams Notre Dame and Syracuse in the near future, the Cats look to secure these early wins and move ahead full steam.

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Twitter: @katewalter03

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