During her Wednesday media availability, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller urged fans to venture to Martin Stadium for a late-morning battle between No. 3 Northwestern and Penn.
The teams matched up in the same position last year: Northwestern won 20-7 in the quarterfinals at Martin Stadium. History repeated when the Wildcats (18-2, 8-0 Big Ten) knocked off the Quakers (12-7, 5-2 Ivy League) at the same stage with a 17-12 victory.
The win sends Amonte Hiller’s squad to its fifth consecutive Final Four and 15th of her tenure.
“Kelly knows what it takes to win,” senior defender Sammy White said. “When people come to Northwestern, their goal is to make it to a Final Four.”
Junior attacker Madison Taylor led the team with 10 points on six goals and four assists. In the contest, Taylor surpassed the single-season NCAA goals record, previously held by High Point’s Abby Hormes with 103 goals in 2022.
Graduate student attacker Niki Miles and junior attacker Lucy Munro each recorded two goals and one assist.
Munro’s two goals came early in the contest, giving the ’Cats a lead less than three minutes into the game. Around the nine-minute mark, sophomore midfielder Taylor Lapointe extended the lead to three.
With 8:26 remaining in the first quarter, Taylor received a pass from Munro just inside the eight-meter arc. She fired a shot and found the back of the net. With it, history.
Taylor’s 100th goal of the season gave her sole possession of Northwestern’s single-season scoring record, surpassing Izzy Scane, who notched 99 goals in 2023. Taylor became the fourth player in Division I history to record at least 100 goals in a season.
“We saw it coming. I mean, Maddy is a phenomenal player,” Amonte Hiller said. “She’s been able to really just continue to do her thing and have fun loving this game.”
The Quakers found momentum toward the end of the first quarter though, adding three goals while the ’Cats notched just one more score, courtesy of Taylor. NU led 5-3 at the first break.
The ’Cats dominated the draw control, winning by a 7-2 margin in the first quarter and 23-10 for the full game. Senior midfielder Sam Smith recorded a career-high 15 controls.
“There’s nobody that is more of a hungry player than Sam,” Amonte Hiller said. “We always talk about how impactful (the draw) is, so I was glad that she was able to come up with quite a few.”
The ’Cats opened the second quarter with a 3-0 scoring run on goals from Lapointe, senior midfielder Emerson Bohlig and Taylor. NU led 8-3 with 5:57 remaining in the quarter when Penn made some history of its own.
Midfielder Anna Brandt scored her first goal of the game to break Penn’s single-season goal record, trumping the record set in 2023 by Miles, who transferred to the ’Cats before this season.
With Penn tallying two goals to NU’s one toward the end of the first half, the teams entered the locker room with the ’Cats leading 10-5.
Two early Quaker goals to open the third quarter brought the NU lead to three, but soon after, Taylor prepared for her third free position of the day.
She stood at the top of the eight-meter arc, staring down Penn goalkeeper Orly Sedransk. When the whistle blew, Taylor fired a shot towards the bottom right of the goal — making history once again.
Taylor’s fifth goal of the day was her 104th of the season, rewriting the national record books.
“I have the best teammates in the world, and they help me be a better player and person every day,” Taylor said.
The goal was the ’Cats’ only score in the first 11 minutes of the third quarter, as the Quakers ventured on a 5-1 scoring run to close the NU lead to one, 11-10.
The ’Cats then went on a 4-0 scoring run to take a 15-10 lead with over 10 minutes remaining. Despite the deficit, Penn wouldn’t go away, scoring two consecutive goals to stay within reach.
Leading by three, Smith headed to midfield for the draw. On consecutive possessions, she controlled her 13th and 14th draws, and freshman attacker Aditi Foster scored back-to-back goals.
After Smith controlled the final draw, the whistle blew, and NU was on to the next round.
For seniors like White, this game marked an emotional final time at Martin Stadium.
“It’s sad that I’m not going to ever play on this field again, but I think it was a pretty good team win to go out on,” White said.
The ’Cats will face the winner of No. 2 Boston College at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on May 23.
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Related Stories:
— Lacrosse: No. 3 Northwestern readies for late-morning NCAA Tournament quarterfinal clash with Penn
— Lacrosse: Taylor, White named to All-American First Team as five Wildcats notch All-American honors
