April 16, 2007
Today's Game
All eyes and ears of the lacrosse world will be focused on Evanston Monday as tournament seedings, national rankings and bragging rights will be on the line as top-ranked Northwestern (10-1, 2-0 ALC) takes on No. 2 Maryland (13-1, 3-1 ACC) in a national showdown.
This is Northwestern's second game against a top-10 opponent in three days after a 19-8 win over No. 8 Penn State on Saturday. The Wildcats were faced with a similar situation last year when they faced North Carolina and Johns Hopkins--both top 10 teams at the time--in the span of three days. The Wildcats came out on top convincingly in both games which springboarded them back to the top of the national polls and to another ALC Championship.
Last Time Out
Despite chilly conditions, No. 1 Northwestern stayed hot and picked up its 10th win in a row with a 19-8 victory over No. 8 Penn State Saturday afternoon in Evanston. Sophomores Hilary Bowen and Meredith Frank each scored four goals while classmate Hannah Nielsen recorded a career-high five assists. The first 30 minutes told the story as NU simply dominated, outshooting Penn State 28-10 en route to a 13-4 halftime advantage. The Wildcats won 12 of the 18 draws and committed only three first-half turnovers to PSU's nine. Penn State hung tough, however, and found themselves down by only two after an unassisted goal by Karen Long with 12:19 left. But Bowen's third goal of the game just under a minute later sparked an 8-0 run by Northwestern to end the half--three of those goals coming off the stick of Frank.
Other Notes: NU has now 10 in a row and 26-straight home games dating to 2004 ... Nielsen now has 34 assists on the season, good for third on NU's all-time single-season list ... The Wildcats are outscoring teams 104-29 in the first half this year ... Meredith Frank has now recorded at least one point in 32-straight games -- every game of her career ... The Wildcats are 51-2 in the past two-plus seasons and 65-4 in their last 69 games ... NU is averaging 20.0 goals over the last four games while giving up just 6.5.
Scouting Maryland
Second-ranked Maryland is 13-1 (3-1 ACC) after Friday's win and rank among the top scoring teams in the country with 15.6 goals per game. They are currently riding an eight-game win streak and are coming off a 20-7 win over Loyola (Md.) on Friday. Its only trip up this year came at conference rival Virginia where the Cavaliers handed the Terps a 15-4 defeat in Charlottesville. Maryland is led by Dana Dobbie's 41 goals and 11 assists and she also ranks third in the NCAA in draw controls with 3.9 per game. Krista Pellizzi is UM's other big gun with 38 goals and 15 dimes. Allie Buote is the netminder with a .490 save percentage and while giving up 9.5 goals per game. Maryland is led by first-year head coach Cathy Reese who returned to College Park after spending her first three seasons as head coach at the University of Denver where she guided the Pioneers to their most successful season in school history in 2006.
Seniors Set Win Record
With the win over California last Monday, the 2007 seniors (Kjellman, Josephs, Finocchiaro, Elliott, Boege, Whitman and Lovett) became the winningest class in Northwestern's history and now have 66 wins and counting. They won 15 games in 2004, 21 in 2005, 20 last season and 10 so far in 2007. Last year's class graduated with 64 wins.
Kjellman Among Elite Company
Senior All-American Kristen Kjellman further solidified herself in the Northwestern record books March 30 against Syracuse as her three points made her NU's all-time points leader with 290, breaking the old mark of 289 set back in 1987 by Kate Oleykowski. She now has 304 total points and became just the 15th player in the history of NCAA Division I women's lacrosse to eclipse 300 total points. And its only a matter of time before she owns the NU record for goals in a career. She enters today with 213, 15 shy of the current record of 228, also set in 1987 by Oleykowski. With 213 goals and 91 assists, Kjellman needs nine more assists to become only the sixth player in the history of NCAA Division I women's lacrosse to record at least 200 goals and 100 assists in a career.
Home Cookin'
The Wildcats are one tough cookie at home, having won 26-straight games in Evanston. NU went unbeaten at home the past two seasons and is 6-0 in Evanston so far this year. The NCAA record is 41 home wins in a row set by Maryland from 1997-2001.
Clamping Down Defensively
With all the offensive fireworks Northwestern's attack displays, probably the biggest part that gets overlooked is its defense. As of the NCAA stats released April 8, NU currently leads the nation in scoring defense at 5.9 goals per game. Goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop leads in both goals-against average (5.8) and save percentage (.570) while junior Christy Finch is second with 2.9 caused turnovers per game. Northwestern has only allowed one opponent--Notre Dame--to score in double-digits with 10 goals. Of the 11 games this year, NU's defense has given up just five or fewer goals six times.