FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Gillette Stadium stage is set: No. 3 Northwestern vs. No. 1 North Carolina in the national championship.
Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller and the Wildcats (19-2, 8-0 Big Ten) are facing off against coach Jenny Levy and the Tar Heels (21-0, 9-0 ACC) in a heavyweight bout between two blue bloods.
A program with eight national titles, NU, matches up against a squad with three rings to its name in North Carolina.
“The biggest thing for us is to really fight hard with a lot of heart, and just put it all out there on the field,” Amonte Hiller said. “It’s going to be a great battle.”
NU took the field for a rainy day of preparation and practice Saturday, 18 hours removed from a dominant fourth-quarter comeback win over No. 2 Boston College. After falling behind 11-6 heading into the third quarter, the ’Cats scored six unanswered goals to secure a 12-11 win.
North Carolina, the nation’s best team, eviscerated No. 4 Florida in the tournament’s other semifinal game. Though the Tar Heels trailed 4-2 after the first quarter, they ripped off 18 unanswered goals to win 20-4.
The Tar Heels topped the ’Cats in their regular-season matchup, 15-12, on March 27.
“I’m not sure how many people think that we can win this game, but that’s okay,” Amonte Hiller said. “The only ones that matter are us, and we’re just going to fight as hard as we can.”
First draw is set for 11 a.m. CDT. Here are three things to take into account before a champion is crowned.
1. Delaney Sweitzer has tough task ahead in stopping UNC attack
With four seconds left in NU’s semifinal matchup with Boston College, graduate student goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer found herself in a 1-on-1 matchup with Eagles attacker Mia Mascone.
Sweitzer stabbed her stick into the air, denying Mascone’s effort and securing the ’Cats’ win.
The graduate student, who transferred to NU ahead of the season’s start, will be making her first national championship appearance after logging 68 career starts between the pipes.
“She’s very focused, and she’s very passionate about what she does in the cage,” Amonte Hiller said. “She wants to leave no stone unturned and try to go out there and play her best.”
Sweitzer will face a tall task in net Sunday: trying to slow down the nation’s top scoring offense. North Carolina averages 17.71 goals per game. Seven different Tar Heels have tallied 30 or more goals this season.
North Carolina’s sister duo of Ashley and Chloe Humphrey are both Tewaaraton Award finalists. Chloe Humphrey, a redshirt freshman, logged a career-high seven goals in the squad’s semifinal bout. Ashley Humphrey, a graduate student, has 117 points on the season, including 86 assists.
Amonte Hiller said Sweitzer’s experience in big moments propels her to a new level of competition.
“Whenever she’s competing at her hardest, she’s at her best,” Amonte Hiller said. “In those pressure moments, her (competitiveness) comes right to the surface.”
2. Sam Smith looks to continue versatile play
After securing a career-high 15 draw controls in the quarterfinal round against Penn, senior midfielder Sam Smith tallied a team-high seven draw controls Friday.
Smith, who models the grit of Amonte Hiller’s program, works to contribute outside of the circle, too.
“Players like Sam, who are battling it out all over the field, inspire me,” graduate student attacker Riley Campbell said.
While being quintessential to the possession battle in Friday’s game, Smith also contributed offensively, scoring the game-winning goal with 5:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Smith has notched a new career-high in goals with 20 this season and ranks 12th in the country in draw controls per game with 9.20. She has also made a statement on the defensive end, causing two turnovers against Boston College.
In the championship game, Amonte Hiller will likely turn to Smith as the ’Cats look to win the possession battle.
“Anytime you can gain possession for your team, it gives you more percentage to score goals,” Amonte Hiller said. “We know that UNC has a great draw team and a lot of athletes, so we’re gonna fight hard for it.”
3. Riley Campbell’s back in Boston
The field at Gillette Stadium boasts a giant Harvard crest spray-painted in a corner, a nod to the school hosting the tournament.
For graduate student attacker Riley Campbell, who played three seasons with the Crimson, playing with the on-field insignia marked a “full-circle moment.” After transferring to NU ahead of the season, the Madison, New Jersey, native said she feels nothing but gratitude.
“Completing my career here has been the most incredible experience I could have asked for,” Campbell said. “The fact that we got to extend our season to the longest possible point has just been a dream come true.”
Campbell, who scored the game-tying goal against Boston College, has scored 37 goals and tallied 17 assists this year.
She comes from a lacrosse family. Her brother plays in the Premier Lacrosse League, while her mother won a national championship with Harvard in 1990. She has cousins in the PLL, and she said all of her extended family was in the stands on Friday evening.
“Lacrosse has meant so much to all of us,” Campbell said. “It’s brought our whole family together. … It’s changed my life in the best way possible.”
Now, in her first national championship appearance, Campbell calls the experience a “dream come true.”
NU is in high spirits ahead of the championship kerfuffle — Campbell addressed members of the media Saturday with a fake mustache, like everyone else on the practice field.
“We’re going into this completely level-headed,” Campbell said. “We’re a different team than we were (during the regular season matchup). We have so much to give, so much that we can learn from (Friday), and we’re just really excited.”
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