A raucous Martin Stadium, holding a lacrosse-record crowd of 6,242, witnessed Northwestern overwhelm Johns Hopkins in a 16-11 win.
The Wildcats (18-3, 7-1 Big Ten) had seen this stage before, making their 15th appearance in the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinals. Conversely, the Blue Jays (17-5, 6-2 Big Ten) were on the big stage for the first time as a DI program.
Depth scoring proved key for the ’Cats’ victory, with five NU players having multi-goal performances.
Johns Hopkins got out to an early start with a goal from attacker Paige Willard 42 seconds into the game.
After coming up empty on their first possession, the ’Cats didn’t let their next one go to waste. Senior attacker Madison Taylor passed the ball to junior midfielder Taylor Lapointe before streaking across the middle and tying the game at 1-1.
Passing continued to be the name of the game for the ’Cats, with Lapointe adding her second assist of the game when she found sophomore attacker Aditi Foster. She scored her 49th goal of the season while being sandwiched between two Blue Jay defenders to give NU a 2-1 lead.
The ’Cats dominated possession in the first half of the first quarter, but a foul on sophomore defender Mary Carroll gave Johns Hopkins attacker McKenzey Craig a free position shot. She capitalized, and the teams headed into the first timeout tied 2-2.
It didn’t stay that way for long.When senior attacker Maddie Epke streaked across the field before putting a shot past Blue Jays goalkeeper Ashley Langdon, the ’Cats took a 3-2 lead. Taylor and Epke combined seconds later after the latter won the draw to score NU’s second goal in 13 seconds.
Willard contributed on the defensive side, forcing a turnover that led to an odd-man attack for the Blue Jays, with Craig putting one past graduate student goalkeeper Jenika Cuocco to narrow the ’Cats’ lead to 4-3.
Early in the second quarter, junior midfielder Jaylen Rosga snatched a pass out of midair, leading to an offensive possession for NU. Freshman attacker Kate Ratanaproeksa broke through the wall of the Blue Jays’ defense and bounced it past Langdon. Foster added another goal off a free position as the ’Cats’ took a 6-3 advantage.
Taylor capitalized on a green card on Craig to find a lane and use her signature shot to score her third goal of the game, as Epke added her third assist of the day.
The second quarter was all NU. The ’Cats didn’t lose a draw all quarter, winning six straight. NU peppered Langdon with 17 shots and nine on goal while allowing just one shot.
Outside of the one shot, which came with under four minutes remaining, the ’Cats looked in control the entire quarter. After junior midfielder Noel Cumberland got a green card for dangerous contact to the head, attacker Ava Angello got the Blue Jays’ first chance of the quarter, which went wide of the net.
With two minutes remaining in the second period, Foster soared into the air and picked off a high pass from Langdon before diving across the face of the goal as she secured a hat trick. The offensive pressure didn’t let up, as senior attacker Lucy Munro scored a minute later, giving the ’Cats a 9-3 lead as the seconds ticked down.
NU didn’t let the limited time left slow it down, with Epke scoring her second goal of the game 22 seconds later as the ’Cats took a 10-3 lead going into the half.
The draw continued to be one of the key cogs in NU’s machine, winning nine straight draws across the second and third quarters. Johns Hopkins responded by scoring its first goal in 21 minutes of action in the third quarter off a free position.
Angello’s goal started a comeback attempt on a four-goal scoring run in the third.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth chances, the Blue Jays added their second goal of the quarter to narrow the ’Cats’ lead to 10-5. Taylor and NU’s attack continued to press Langdon, but couldn’t force a turnover.
Johns Hopkins continued to pressure the ’Cats, with midfielder Samantha DiCarlo scoring the Blue Jays’ third unanswered goal of the quarter, forcing NU to call a timeout.
The break in action didn’t change much for either team. On Johns Hopkins’ first possession out of the break, Angello added her second score of the game past Cuocco and narrowing the lead to 10-7.
Epke stopped the bleeding with just over two minutes to go in the quarter to score the ’Cats’ first goal of the period. Lapointe added her sixth point of the day under a minute later to grow the lead to 12-7.
To start the fourth quarter, Angello capped off her hat trick by sneaking between NU defenders to score 26 seconds into the frame. Ratanaprokesa answered back 90 seconds later with her second goal of the game, a career high, to keep the ’Cats’ lead at five.
Lapointe put another past Langdon to continue her career high in points and grow NU’s lead to 14-8.
A shot by Johns Hopkins attacker Taylor Hoss bounced past Cuocco to make the lead 14-9. After winning the draw, the Blue Jays marched down the field, and Hoss put her second goal in as many possessions in the back of the net.
Taylor continued her strong performance by scoring her fourth goal of the game to put the ’Cats up 15-10 with 7:46 to go.
Willard would add her second of the day just under two minutes later to narrow the lead to 15-11 as the Blue Jays’ bench, including coach and former NU assistant coach Tim McCormack, roared with excitement.
Epke would temper that excitement a few minutes later, however, scoring her sixth point of the day to give the ’Cats a 16-11 lead with just over two minutes to go.
The ’Cats will take on North Carolina in a rematch of last year’s championship game Sunday.
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