April 6, 2002
DURHAM, N.H. - The Northwestern women's lacrosse team gave New Hampshire all it could handle Saturday, but ended up dropping the game by a final score of 7-6.
The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead into halftime and were ahead 6-1 five minutes into the second half before UNH turned up the heat with six unanswered goals.
Courtney Koester had two goals, while Angela McMahon had two assists. Koester also had three draw controls.
Northwestern (2-6) sought to dictate the tempo of the game, and were successful through the first half. The Wildcats won draw controls and were deliberate on offense, and the result was a 3-0 lead at the break. Koester got NU started offensively, using nice individual efforts to fire home goals at the 2:52 and 6:56 marks. The other goal came from Donna McCann with just 1:43 left before the halftime whistle.
UNH (5-3) finally got on the board when Jess Burnap scored just 27 seconds into the second half, but Northwestern came back quickly and took advantage of a scary collision between UNH goalie Danielle Martin and one of her defenders. Courtney Flynn gained the ball and fired into an open goal for a 4-1 NU lead.
Courtney's sister Erin Flynn notched a goal three minutes later against UNH backup goalkeeper Heidi Dessert before Martin returned between the pipes. The change back was not immediately beneficial to UNH, as Sarah Albrecht fired home a shot to make the score 6-1 in Northwestern's favor with 25:21 left in the game.
At that point, UNH--playing its third game in four days--turned it up a notch.
Molly Cherington got the run started just more than a minute after Albrecht's tally, and five minutes later Sue Yund scored her first of the day to make the score 6-3. UNH then drew within 6-5 with a pair of goals just 46 seconds apart from Yund and Jessie Groszkowski (on a free-position shot).
Groszkowski would prove to be the hero this day, as she followed up her first goal by tying the game with 8:25 left in the game and then putting UNH in the lead with 6:33 left.
After that, it was up to UNH's defense, which did a good job of shutting NU down in the game's final 25 minutes. Northwestern did have a final opportunity to tie the game, but two shots in the closing seconds both went wide.
NU will take on Brown in Providence Monday at 3:30 p.m. CST.
Score by Half
Northwestern 3 3 - 6
New Hampshire 0 7 - 7
Goals
Northwestern: C. Koester 2, McCann, Albrecht, C. Flynn, E. Flynn.
New Hampshire: Groszkowski 3, Yund 2, Burnap, Cherington.
Assists
Northwestern: McMahon 2.
New Hampshire: Clavin, Dosdall.
Saves
Northwestern: Gersuk 12.
New Hampshire: Martin 4, Dessert 1.
Shots on Goal: UNH 22, Northwestern 14
Free Position: UNH 2/6, Northwestern 0/0
Ground Balls: UNH 30, Northwestern 22
Caused Turnovers: UNH 13, Northwestern 10
Draw Controls: Northwestern 7, UNH 7
Fouls: Northwestern 23, UNH 10