April 4, 2004
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STORRS, Conn. -- Heading into Sunday's game at the University of Connecticut, NU women's lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller felt that -- after five straight dramatic wins -- her team was ready for a "breakout" game. Turns out she was right.
Freshman Kristen Kjellman scored a career-high eight goals -- including six in a decisive first half -- to lead Northwestern's 15th-ranked women's lacrosse team to its sixth-straight win, an 18-4 victory over Connecticut Sunday afternoon.
The win improved the Wildcats to 7-1 overall (2-0 American Lacrosse Conference). The unranked Huskies, meanwhile, fell to 3-7.
"This was a breakout game for us," said Amonte Hiller after the contest. "We had great passing and great finishing -- you look at the number of assists we had, and it's obvious we were clicking offensively. We were consistent and put together a solid 60 minutes."
Kjellman scored the first three goals of the game to set the pace for the Wildcats, and then Jenny Bush and Lindsay Finocchiaro tallied goals to put Northwestern up 5-0 before 20 minutes had elapsed in the game.
UConn picked up the pace with goals by Abby VanDeusen, Kristin Link and Kariane Lauri. Bush scored her second goal to push NU's lead back up to three (6-3), but that goal was answered by VanDeusen.
That would be the last goal the Huskies would get on the day, as the Wildcats ran off 12 straight to end the contest.
Kjellman added three more goals before the half was over, and scored two more back-to-back goals in the second half. The Huskies substituted their entire lineup in the second half, but could not get an offensive rhythm going.
Bush finished the game with three goals and an assist for the Wildcats, while Aly Josephs scored twice and recorded one assist. Laura Glassanos added one goal and four assists.
In goal for Northwestern, Ashley Gersuk made six saves, while Meredith Philipp came on and made two stops without allowing a goal. UConn goalkeeper Jennifer Wong recorded 10 saves for the Huskies. Kristen Haldeman also saw time in net for UConn, and tallied three saves.
Northwestern is back in action Friday night, taking on Stanford in the first half of its California trip. The Wildcats and Cardinal will meet Friday night at 7 p.m. Pacific (9 Central).
GAME SUMMARY
Score by Half
Northwestern (7-1) 10 8 -- 18
Connecticut (3-7) 4 0 -- 4
Goals
Northwestern: Kjellman 8, Bush 3, Josephs 2, Albrecht, Glassanos, Finocchiaro, Walsh.
UConn: VanDeusen 2, Link, Lauri.
Assists
Northwestern: Glassanos 4, Albrecht 2, Josephs, Bush, C. Koester.
UConn: Michel.
Goalie Saves
NU - Gersuk 6 (49:30), Philipp 2 (10:30); UCONN - Wong 10, Haldeman 3.
Shots: NU 44, UConn 13
Free-Position Goals/Att.: NU 2/5, UConn 1/3
Ground Balls: NU 21, UConn 8
Draw Controls: NU 14, UConn 10
Caused Turnovers: NU 9, UConn 7
Fouls: UConn 18, NU 7