March 19, 2006
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. - Trailing by as much as four and by one at the break, Northwestern kept its composure and showed why they are once again the team to beat. The Wildcats outscored 14th-ranked Notre Dame (7-1) 13-3 in the final period to improve their record to 6-0 and extend their winning streak to 27 games in the 21-12 win.
The Wildcats trailed by four with 7:02 left in the first period before going on a 13-1 run to take a 17-9 lead with 13:05 left in the game.
It also marked just the second time this season that NU has trailed.
Notre Dame jumped out to an 8-4 lead on the strength of three goals by Crysti Foote. It was Aly Josephs' (Jr., Reiterstown, Md./Franklin) first goal with 5:23 left in the first that propelled the run that would help the Wildcats pull away. The run was highlighted by four goals from Josephs and three from both Kristen Kjellman (Jr., Westwood, Mass./Westwood) and Laura Glassanos (Sr., Hingham, Mass./Thayer Academy).
Foote's fifth goal of the game made it 17-10 with 9:26 left, but four straight goals by senior Lindsey Munday (Sr., Mountain Lakes, N.J./Mountain Lakes), Kjellman and Josephs over the next 1:40 put to rest any comeback ideas by the Irish.
"Notre Dame is a great team. They are very explosive offensively and really showed that in the first half," NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "We got down a little bit, but we really concentrated on keeping our poise and winning the draw controls and we did that in the second half. We did a great job of staying poised and finishing our opportunities."
Josephs scored the first two goals of the second half to give NU a 10-9 lead-both of which were scored within the first minute.
Amonte Hiller knew exactly what the Wildcats needed to do to turns things around.
"(Winning draw controls) was the focus of what I told the team at halftime," Amonte Hiller said. "We knew had to win the 50-50 balls and everything else would take care of itself."
And that it did. NU won the draw controls by a 12-6 margin in the second half and 23-13 for the game.
Morgan Lathrop (Fr., Briarcliff, N.Y./The Hackley School) improved her record to 5-0 with six saves and four ground balls on the afternoon. Carol Dixon (7-1) took the loss for Notre Dame and recorded 12 saves.
Northwestern outshot the Irish 40-23 and 21-9 in the second half.
The Wildcats are back in action this week when they travel to California and Stanford this Thursday and Saturday. Game times are 5:30 p.m. CT at California Thursday and 3 p.m. CT at Stanford on Saturday.
Game Notes: With five assists, senior Lindsey Munday is now two assists shy from tying and three from breaking NU's all-time record for assists. She has 92, two away from the record of 94 held by Maureen Mullen (1986-89) ... The 21 goals by NU were the most this season ... NU has outscored its opponents 104-43, a margin of more than 10 goals per game ... Notre Dame is the fourth ranked team NU has defeated this season ... NU has now won 27 straight and 14 straight at home.