April 21, 2006
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Second-ranked Northwestern passed its first test of the weekend with flying colors, dominating No. 5 North Carolina 18-10 on another picture-perfect afternoon along the shores of Lake Michigan in Evanston, Ill. The Wildcats have very little time relish in the victory as they must now shift their focus to Sunday's match-up with No. 8 Johns Hopkins Sunday at 1 p.m.
The win moves NU to 12-1 while UNC drops to 11-4 and snapped the 'Heels four-game win streak. The win was NU's 15th in a row at home.
A year after the two teams combined for 11 goals in the 6-5 Northwestern victory in Chapel Hill, the two teams combined for 28 today.
Northwestern took it to the 'Heels right from the opening draw and scored 18 goals on the nation's third-best defense that came in giving up only 7.2 goals per game. The 18 goals tied for the most given up by UNC this season.
Kristen Kjellman led Northwestern with five goals--her eighth game this year with four or more goals-while Aly Josephs tallied four.
After proving herself of late in practice, sophomore Abby Bangser got her first start since the season-opener at Maryland back in February. Freshman Morgan Lathrop, who played the final 14 minutes with six saves, had started the previous 11 games in goal.
"It wasn't because of anything Morgan (Lathrop) did wrong-it was more just about Abby," head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "Abby has been playing great in practice for the past three weeks and we felt like she was pushing herself really hard. That's really out motto. If you prove yourself you deserve a chance to start and we gave her that shot today."
Northwestern was in complete control throughout, most notably in the first period-winning the draw controls by a count of 13-4 (21-9 for the game) and outshooting UNC 22-6 as the 'Cats held a 13-3 lead at halftime.
"Obviously if you win the draws you control the game and that was another big focus for us," Amonte Hiller added. "We made some changes on the draws personnel-wise, moving Meredith (Frank) around to the defenseive side and that was a huge difference. She really made some big plays for us early in the game."
After Christina Jura's second goal of the game cut the lead NU lead to 4-2, Northwestern reeled off one of its patented, insurmountable scoring runs with nine straight goals over a 13-minute span.
"(Being aggressive) from the start was our focus," Amonte Hiller added. "We wanted to come out, set the tone ... we felt like if we got up on them a little bit if would shake their confidence. Defensively we just wanted to pressure the ball as much as we could off the break because we felt they had a pretty balanced attack. I thought we did a good job containing them."
Lindsey Munday had another solid all-around game with three assists to go with two goals. Sarah Albrecht and Meredith Frank and also had multiple goal efforts while Laura Glassanos recorded one goal and two assists.
Chelsea Parks and Christina Jura led UNC with three goals each.