April 28, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio-- Second-ranked Northwestern (14-1, 4-0) clinched at least a share of its third-consecutive American Lacrosse Conference Championship and a trip to the NCAA Championship with a 16-4 conference win tonight over the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-12, 1-4) in Columbus, Ohio.
"It's a great honor to clinch," head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "But to be honest, we're really not focused on it that much because we still have two really important games left. We want to make sure we get a good position in the tournament and to do that we have to take care of business these next two games."
The Wildcats opened the game with 13 unanswered goals and didn't give up its first goal until the 46th minute-midway through the second half. The nation's top-scoring team has outscored its last four opponents by a combined score of 70-28 since losing at Duke back on April 7.
The Wildcats outshot the Buckeyes 24-4 in the first half and 37-12 for the game. NU also had a 14-7 advantage on draw controls, 8-3 in the decisive first period. Kristen Kjellman and Sarah Albrecht had six and five draw controls, respectively. Kjellman finished with three assists.
"In the beginning we I thought we were throwing the ball away a little bit, but we were still capitalizing on some of our opportunities." Amonte Hiller added. "I felt the pace of the game was so fast and both sides were turning the ball over a lot. We gained control after a timeout and we started to see what opportunities were there and took a great advantage into the halftime."
Freshman Hilary Bowen led the Wildcats with three goals and two assists for five points. Albrecht, Hannah Nielsen, Meredith Frank, Lindsey Munday and Laura Glassanos all had two goals each. Munday also chipped in with a game-high four assists.
Seniors and Columbus natives Jenny Bush and Lynda McCandlish both tallied goals in front of their hometown friends and family. Aly Josephs also had one goal.
Morgan Lathrop (12-1) picked up the win in goal for the Wildcats with four saves, playing 50 minutes. Abby Bangser played the final 10 minutes, recording one save.
The Wildcats are back in action at 2 p.m. CT this Sunday at home against Denver.
Game Notes: After being held to a season-low 10 goals at Duke on April 7 ... NU is 48-2 in its last 50 regular-season games ... NU has now won three in a row over Ohio State and lead the all-time series 3-2.