May 4, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - History is on the line Thursday afternoon when the Northwestern women's lacrosse team hosts Ohio State at the Thomas Athletic Complex. The contest is slated to begin at 4 p.m.
#1 Northwestern vs. Ohio State
Thursday, May 5 * 4 p.m.
Thomas Athletic Complex (Evanston)
TV: College Sports Television (CSTV)
Joe Beninati, play-by-play; Sheehan Stanwick, analyst
game will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. CDT, and again on tape-delay at 7 p.m. CDT
What exactly is at stake? For Northwestern, the first undefeated regular season in the program's history (including the previous era of lacrosse, from 1982-92). At 16-0, the top-ranked Wildcats are hoping to complete the perfect season and stake their claim for the top seed in the NCAA Tournament that starts next Thursday.
At the very least, NU is looking for a top-four seed, which would allow them to host a first-round game next Thursday and a second-round game next Sunday. Win both of those, and it is on to the Final Four in Annapolis, Md. the weekend of May 20-22.
Northwestern has had a balanced attack all season, and that was the case again last weekend at Vanderbilt as seven different women scored. Lindsey Munday and Kristen Kjellman, a pair of Tewaaraton Trophy candidates, lead the `Cats with 84 and 73 points, respectively, but three other players have more than 20 goals this season (Sarah Albrecht, Laura Glassanos, Aly Josephs). At the other end, a high-pressure defense has been stingy, allowing an average of just six goals per game.
For Ohio State, any talk begins with Regina Oliver. The American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Year in 2003, she has 30 points this season and heads into her final weekend as a collegiate player. The Buckeyes also boast KC Carter, the 2003 ALC Rookie of the Year, who has 19 points in 2005. The woman leading the Bucks is freshman Kelly Kremer, a candidate for this year's Rookie honor with a team-high 34 goals and 40 points.
Some notes as the Wildcats get set to host OSU...
* NU and Ohio State are meeting for the fourth time, all in the modern era; the Buckeyes lead the series, 2-1. Last year, the Wildcats beat OSU for the first time, 9-6.
* NU has clinched a share of the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) title for the second year in a row, and has clinched the conference's automatic NCAA bid for the first time.
* NU entered the week ranked No. 1 in the IWLCA national poll for the seventh straight week; the Wildcats are the first team outside of the Eastern Time Zone to earn the top spot, and they are the first American Lacrosse Conference team to hold the No. 1 ranking.
* NU's 16-0 start is the best in program history.
* NU is 29-1 in its last 30 regular-season games, with the lone loss coming in overtime (last year vs. Vanderbilt).
* NU entered the week with the most wins in Division I this season (16), and the `Cats are the only undefeated team in the nation.
* NU has set program records for goals (254), assists (128) and points (382) in a season.
* NU leads the nation in scoring offense (15.88 gpg), scoring defense (6.00 gpg allowed), scoring margin (+9.89), and draw controls per game (16.13).
* NU also is sixth nationally in caused turnovers per game (12.25).
* In ALC play, NU has outscored its five opponents today 80-23 -- an average of 16.0-4.6 per game (a +11.4 differential).
* NU needs to score 17 goals to set the ALC record for goals in a conference season (currently 96, set by the `Cats last year).
* NU will set the record for fewest goals given up in a conference season unless the 'Cats give up 16 to Ohio State (current record is 39, set by Penn State in 2003).
* NU has had five games with a double-digit unanswered scoring streak (three in the ALC) -- 10 vs. Johns Hopkins, 11 vs. Davidson, 10 vs. California, 10 vs. Ohio, 16 vs. Oregon.
* NU has had an unanswered goal streak of eight or more goals in six of the last eight games, and has had at least one run of five or more goals in all but two contests this season (Penn, North Carolina).
* NU has allowed the first goal in just two games this season, against Duke (who took a 2-0 lead to start the game) and at Johns Hopkins; the Wildcats' average score before their opponent's first goal in the other 14 games is 5.07.
* NU has averaged 16.5 goals per game since the season opener -- hitting double figures in each contest -- and won by an average of 10.5 goals per game.
NU's goalscoring breakdown this season
12 women scoring: 1 (Oregon)
11 women scoring: 1 (Denver)
10 women scoring: 2 (California, Davidson)
9 women scoring: 2 (Connecticut, Stanford)
8 women scoring: 2 (Ohio, Penn)
7 women scoring: 2 (Notre Dame, Vanderbilt)
6 women scoring: 2 (Duke, Johns Hopkins)
5 women scoring: 3 (New Hampshire, Rutgers, Penn State)
4 women scoring: 1 (North Carolina)
* Only two teams have reached double figures against NU -- Notre Dame (11) and Duke (11).
* NU has trailed a total of just 27 minutes and 09 seconds in the last 15 games (a total of 900 minutes); of that, only 8:15 of it occured in the second half.
* NU has five players with 20 or more goals this season -- senior/junior Sarah Albrecht (24), juniors Lindsey Munday (42) and Laura Glassanos (41), and sophomores Kristen Kjellman (45) and Aly Josephs (35).
The following goalscoring streaks are in place...
(number in parentheses represents number of games this season in which players have scored)
Kjellman 13 (14)
Glassanos 8 (15)
Josephs 7 (14)
Albrecht 5 (13)
NOTE: Glassanos has a seven-game streak with multiple goals.
Munday has scored in nine of the last 10 consecutive games, and had two or more goals in six of the last seven contests; she went scoreless at Hopkins.
Multi-Goal Games This Season
Six Goals: Kjellman 1
Five Goals: Kjellman 3, Munday 2, Glassanos 2, Josephs 1
Four Goals: Kjellman 3, Munday 2, Josephs 2, Glassanos 1, Albrecht 1, Flynn 1
Three Goals: Glassanos 6, Munday 5, Josephs 3, Albrecht 3, Kjellman 1, Boege 1, Darmody 1
Two Goals: Josephs 5, Munday 4, Glassanos 3, Kjellman 3, Albrecht 2, Flynn 2, McCandlish 1, Bush 1, Boege 1, Finch 1, McCann 1, Elliott 1
Unassisted Goals This Season
Josephs 17, Kjellman 14, Glassanos 12, Munday 11, Albrecht 11, Darmody 4, Flynn 3, Finocchiaro 2, Bush 2, Elliott 1, Finch 1, McCandlish 1, H. Alley 1, C. Koester 1, Lenahan 1, Cammarota 1
On The NU Single-Season Lists
Assists: Munday 1st with 42; Kjellman 3rd with 28; Glassanos t-8th with 19.
Points: Munday t-2nd with 84 (modern era record); Kjellman 5th with 73.
On The NU All-Time Lists
Goals: Kjellman 6th with 98; Glassanos 8th with 89; Munday 9th with 85; Albrecht 10th with 74; Josephs 11th with 66.
Assists: Munday 2nd with 66; Albrecht 4th with 51; Kjellman 5th with 45; Glassanos 6th with 43.
Points: Munday 4th with 151; Kjellman 5th with 143; Glassanos, Albrecht t-6th with 132.
Saves: Ashley Gersuk 1st with 504.
NU Individuals in the National Stats:
Goals per game: Kjellman, t-16th (3.00)
Assists per game: Munday, 2nd (2.63); Kjellman, t-7th (1.87)
Points per game: Munday, 1st (5.25); Kjellman, 3rd (4.87)
Draw Controls per game: C. Koester, 4th (3.81); Kjellman, t-16th (3.33)
Goals Against Average: Gersuk, 1st (5.99)
* Munday and Kjellman have formed a dynamic duo -- in addition to being 1-2 on the NU scoring chart, they have combined with each other on 32 goals this season. Munday has assisted 21 Kjellman goals, and Kjellman has assisted 11 Munday goals.
* Kjellman had a combined 17 points (12g, 5a) in games vs. No. 2 Duke, No. 8 Penn State, and No. 11 Johns Hopkins (including five unassisted goals); she is averaging 3.4 goals and 5.1 points per game in NU's last 12 games, since she returned to the lineup from illness, and has scored four or more goals in six of the last 10 games.
* Kjellman's 12-point game vs. UConn on April 3 remains the national high for this season.
* Munday averaged 6.8 points per game in the five contests before Hopkins (where she had one assist), and had six points at Vanderbilt.
* Annie Elliott scored eight goals on her first eight shots this season, while Kristen Boege had seven goals on seven shots to start the season; they both missed for the first time this season at Vanderbilt.