When senior attacker Lucy Munro tumbled into the turf just minutes into the first quarter of the national title game against North Carolina, Martin Stadium went quiet.
Sent in to replace her was freshman attacker Gabriella McCollester, who had accumulated six career goals across 15 games. Sporting jersey No. 9, McCollester stepped up to play a key role in securing Northwestern’s ninth national championship.
The Boulder, Colorado, breakout scored a game-high four goals on four shots throughout the second half — including the conversion needed to equalize the score at 11-11.
“Everyone around me and the team believed in myself and just kept telling me to stay ready, and I stayed ready,” McCollester said postgame Sunday. “Everyone was amazing. I just can’t believe it.”
McCollester ran onto Northwestern Medicine Field as a relative unknown. She left having cemented her place in program history as the Wildcats (19-3, 7-1 Big Ten) toppled the Tar Heels (19-2, 10-0 ACC) to win it all at home.
It’s not the first time in recent years that a freshman has scored four goals in the national title game. Senior attacker Madison Taylor recorded four goals as a freshman in 2023 against Boston College, tying with former teammate Izzy Scane for the team-high.
As NU graduates key offensive players like Taylor, Munro and senior attacker Maddie Epke, the question of who will fill the gaps on the squad’s offense is front and center.
The ’Cats have retained a star player on the offensive end for years, boasting names like Scane and Taylor.
McCollester’s performance served as a reminder that despite the imminent losses to the team’s offense, NU’s roster will not lack the necessary firepower to make its way back to championship weekend again. Regardless of turnover in the lineup, the team’s offensive hunger will likely remain constant.
“What we talked about going into this game was just attack, attack, attack. Every time we got the ball, we just wanted to just go, go, go, and just play really fast, and I think we were able to do that throughout the whole entire game,” Taylor said.
McCollester didn’t carry the offensive load alone. Junior midfielder Taylor Lapointe and sophomore attacker Aditi Foster tallied three goals each on Sunday, while redshirt junior attacker Abby LoCascio notched two.
In fact, until Epke’s goal halfway through the third quarter, no graduating player had scored yet.
Despite early-season losses and growing pains, the ’Cats proved throughout the year that the younger players could hold their own — and that belief in their squad’s capabilities stood firm.
In February, NU fell at home to an unranked Colorado squad. The ’Cats faced that same team in the quarterfinals on May 14 and outlasted the Buffaloes in overtime, advancing on a game-winner by junior midfielder Noel Cumberland.
“Like after the (first) Colorado game, nothing changed after that,” McCollester said. “But I think everyone took a moment, and we just kept believing.”
Taylor led all players with seven points, scoring one goal in her last collegiate game — the final goal of the contest — and posting a game-high six assists, assisting Lapointe, LoCascio, Foster and McCollester.
As NU aims to defend the title next year, the ’Cats will have plenty of familiar faces to rely on for a high-octane offense — a legacy that the team’s departing offense passes on to capable hands.
“This is a really full-circle moment because I was in the same exact spot as Gaby,” Taylor said. “That was literally me four years ago, and now I’m sitting up here four years later.”
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