Sept. 5, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern came back from a 1-0 deficit behind two goals from senior forward Alexandra Quinn (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) and a third by junior forward Elizabeth Dobbs (Wellesley, Mass./St. Ignatius (San Francisco)) to defeat Miami (Ohio) 3-1 at Lakeside Field for its first win of 2008. Dobbs deflected in a shot at the 23:19 mark of the first half for what proved to be the game winner and the sixth tally of her career.
“This is really a great feeling for the girls because we set out today to work together as a team on both sides of the field and just have a unified feeling all over the field,” said head coach Kelly McCollum. “From the defense through the midfield and forwards and even the girls on the bench, we had one game plan and that's why we were successful.”
Miami (Ohio) (2-1) jumped out to a lead in the 12th minute when Danielle Gaynor took a feed from Jessica Reading off of a penalty corner and found the back of the cage. It was one of 12 penalty corners that MU earned on the afternoon.
NU (1-2) responded just five minutes later when Quinn collected a loose ball at the top of the circle, picked her spot to shoot at and blasted it home for the 15th goal of her career. No. 16 came shortly after the midway point of the second half when she again got to the ball in the midst of a scramble in front of the net and put it past MU freshman goalie Abbey Huck.
“When the ball is down near the goal I try to just stay hungry for goals and think about the sound of the ball hitting the back of the board,” Quinn said. “Everyone played really hard. We worked this week on tweaking our press a little and I think that paid off for us in the game.”
“Alex is an extremely talented player,” McCollum said. “She has great skill and finesse with the ball and she's someone you can count on to put the ball in the net.”
Goalkeeper Emily Kyle (San Francisco Calif./San Francisco University H.S.) had a season-high eight saves in the game for the Wildcats.
Friday's win marked NU's seventh in eight all-time contests against the RedHawks and the third straight season Northwestern has been victorious in its home opener. Northwestern has one day off to prepare for its match-up with Sacred Heart at Lakeside Field Sunday at noon.